This takes place during Captain America: Civil War during that brawl with Bucky, yeah, you know the one. Anyway, I didn't feel like there needed to be more soooo...
Cap felt his back slam hard against the bottom of the elevator shaft. His vision grew blurry as he struggled to focus. He might be super human but that fall could have easily killed someone. Gritting his teeth, he propped himself up on his elbows and looked upward. He could make out the light from the open elevator door he'd fallen from. Probably seven or eight floors up.
He groaned, sitting up and touching a bloody spot on his forehead. Yep, other people would have died. But no time to think about it now. Bucky was in danger. And Tony was in danger of putting Bucky in danger. The whole situation was about as bad as it gets.
Cap was just getting a hold of the side of the the the elevator shaft when he heard a loud creak above him that made him freeze. A gunshot and the creak of a fraying cable wire.
"Damn it," Cap said before the elevator suspended ten floors above him went into free-fall. All he could do wasbrace for impact.
Somewhere under the wreckage of a warped elevator cart, a twisted metal beam shifted. Then there was coughing. Slowly but surely, the elevator hiked up inch by inch until Steve could squeeze around it. He sat down hard once he had made it to the top. A gash above his eye was bleeding heavily, he was reasonably sure he had a concussion, maybe a couple broken ribs and either a fracture or break somewhere around his knee area. He couldn't really tell because everything stung.
He rubbed his hands together and, ignoring his pain and grappled with the side of the elevator shaft like it was a rock climbing wall.
Cap's hair was damp with sweat and his injured leg was shaking with effort by the time he pulled himself up. He lay there, panting as he looked around the battleground. Desks were unturned and glass smashed but it looked like no one was left in the area. What had happened to Sam, Bucky, Nat, and Tony? It was probably better to steer clear of the last two, with all their recent disagreements, there was no way they were particularly glad to see him.
He took one more deep breath that sounded suspiciously like a whine with his broken ribs before getting up again and moving.
Steve ran up a dozen sets of stairs onto the roof with the helipad. There was Bucky, shit. He realized he was swearing a lot today but given the situation, he couldn't bring himself to regret it.
"Bucky, stop!" It was almost impossible to hear anything over the sound of the chopper's blades but Steve yelled anyway. He and his oldest friend looked at each other clear in the eye. Steve knew his friend well enough to tell that that wasn't his friend in an instant. Someone had control over him again. Like hell Steve was going to let him get away again.
In an instant, he was charging across the roof, faster than his battered body should have been able to propel him.
"Bucky!" The helicopter was pulling away now. Steve extended himself as far as he could go, wrapping a hand around the landing stiles. Quick as a lashing snake, his other hand secured itself around the edge of the building. Almost instantly, it felt like his muscles were going to give, but the pain just caused him to grip tighter. He could just make out Bucky in the cockpit, pushing full throttle.
Veins were starting to pop on his arms and neck. His grip on the building was slipping and his deltoids were shaking viciously. In a flash, he switched his arm position and pulled the helicopter closer to the landing pad. He wasn't going to lose Bucky again, he was going to do everything in his power to keep him here. Put everything on the line. He wasn't letting his best friend get away. Not again. Not again.
"What the hell?" Steve almost loosened his grip in surprise to hear the philanthropist billionaire's voice. Footsteps quickly approached the side of the building. Steve could see his friend's eyebrows shoot up over his sunglasses, even through the sweat pouring over Steve's eyes.
"Tony! A-a little help here?" He ground out as he felt his muscles whining and trying to separate from the sheer effort he was putting forth. "Bucky's inside."
The helicopter was now twisting back and forth, trying to escape Steve's grasp. And it was working, his arm was starting to go numb from his arm socket being wrenched in so many directions. "Tony!" He repeated, a little more frantically this time. He wasn't ignoring him, was he?
"I'm thinking! I don't have my suit with me." He pressed the heel of his hand into his temple in thought. "Just hold out a little longer."
Steve couldn't even muster the strength to respond, his vision was frizzing into black edges and dots again. The helicopter turned sharply again.
"Cap, let go! Let go right now!" Tony suddenly yelled. Steve didn't have enough time to respond or even understand the command. The copter came at him, tilted so the blades spun toward him, forcing him to let go of the side of the building. Tony dropped to the ground, protecting his head as the spinning blades slashed the air not two feet above him.
Steve had been along for the ride, doing all he could to avoid being hit with the blades on his one good leg. Then he realized that they had made a full turn and he was now suspended, along with the entire helicopter, over a hundred foot drop to a river. One more rattling shake was enough to render Steve's torn muscles in his arm useless and his grip released like he was dropping a penny into a well. His stomach dropped along with it. A super soldier had all the chance in the world of surviving a fall like this into the water. But his body was already so damaged, it might not respond enough that he could pull himself back up to the surface. And ever since he'd crashed into the ocean, he'd been nervous—scared, even—of landing in deep waters.
Gravity was already starting to pull him down just as the helicopter was doing its job to defy it. Then Steve felt a strong hand whip out and wrap its fingers tightly around his wrist. As his body grew taught, he couldn't suppress a loud wince. Still, he'd take Tony catching him over falling any day, bad arm or not.
"Come on, super soldier. Time to go on the Atkin's diet." Tony grunted as he dug his feet into the side of the building for leverage. "Could use a little help here."
Cap feebly—which normally would not be a word you could use to describe him—tried to find purchase for his legs on the side, despite his injuries. Together, they managed to pull the soldier off the ledge and they both sat, gasping for breath only a few feet away from the drop.
"Nice war paint," Tony gestured to his own face and pointed to his friend. Still panting heavily, Steve touched his right cheek and grimaced when he realized it was coated with blood. He'd thought—or hoped—it had been sweat. He traced the trail back to his gash. It was surprising that he super healing hadn't at least staunched the bleeding by now.
"Thanks for the save, Tony," Steve said, swallowing the rising fear in his gut as the helicopter flew well out of his jumping reach and up above the buildings.
"No problem. I'm just glad you were trying to keep him here instead of jumping into the passenger seat and flying off."
Steve gave Tony a severe look. "Bucky's brain-washed right now. That wasn't him. I wanted to keep him here where I could watch for him. But I lost him—again!" Steve said frustratedly.
"Well, we'll talk about all that stuff later. Can you walk?"
Steve looked down doubtfully at his beaten body. The fall down the elevator shaft hadn't been fun, neither had the elevator falling on his head and certainly hadn't been an enjoyable experience to hold down a helicopter. His entire body felt like a bruise, his entire upper body was shaking from exertion and his broken bones and torn muscles made him want to lay on the roof comatose for a day while they at least started to heal up.
But of course, Steve was never one for obliging the begging needs of his body so he gave Tony a half-smirk smile and nodded, holding out his good hand. Tony graced him with the same smirk but larger and clasped his hand like they were arm wrestling, pulling the captain up.
A wave of vertigo hit Steve like a bullet train to the side of the face, causing him to stumble forward. Right, the concussion. Apparently, it did not like to be ignored and elected to return with a vengeance.
Tony, still holding his hand, used the other one to steady Cap's shoulder-his bad shoulder. A shot of pain ran through Cap's back but he didn't have the faculties to react while he was focusing on righting his world. Fo-cussing or con-cussing? A little, non-sensical portion of his mind asked.
"No, focusing." He breathed. Tony was already giving his leader a doubtful look. The furrow in his brows only deepened at this.
"Doesn't sound like you're okay, Cap." Tony said. Though it shouldn't be too much of a surprise, a liter of his own blood has probably leaked out of his skull by now. Tony thought morbidly. "We're putting you back down."
"What?" Steve's face wrinkled in confusion and annoyance as Tony reversed the process of helping him up. Within seconds, he was in a sitting position, leaning against a chimney-like structure. "Help me back up." Steve wasn't dumb enough to think he'd be able to get back by himself, not as he was now. He had assumed Tony wanted to leave as soon as possible, especially after their argument in the boardroom and FDR's special pens.
Tony kneeled down next to him. "Nope, not until you tell me where your worst injuries are. Actually, all of them." He said in a professional tone.
"Tony, you're not a doctor, you're a scientist-inventor," Steve said, trying to hide his exasperation.
"Well, today I'm all three. Come on, the medics are gonna all be busy with the shit-storm that blew through there. I'd have a chopper pick us up and bring us to a private hospital but I think you've had enough of those for today. Come on." He said that last line like he was encouraging a puppy but Steve was suddenly not finding the ability to argue as blood dripped down his collarbone from his forehead gash. A lot of blood.
"Wait, I think there was a med kit on the back of the door," Tony said, suddenly running back to the door to the staircase. He pulled the kit off the back of the metal door with ease but when he tried the door handle, the deadlock just shook futilely.
Tony returned with a grim face. "We lucked out that there was a medkit here, this being an emergency helipad and everything. But it seems like we're stuck up here unless you still want to do that swan dive."
Steve exhaled loudly through his nose and shut his eyes.
"Alright, enough fooling around. Where are you hurt, I mean besides the fact that your head is erupting more red stuff than a volcano." Tony said, opening the kit up and pulling on a pair of gloves. "I know it takes a lot to put you down, Capsicle."
He grabbed some antiseptic wipes and dabbed the gash on Steve's head, to the superhero's credit, he didn't so much as flinch. "Yeah, this'll need stitches," Tony noted, watching the gash seep more blood. "Doesn't look like there are any in the kit though." He pushed the two sides of skin together and applied two butterfly bandages before pushing up his friend's blonde bangs and wrapping a bandage tight around his head in hopes of stopping the bleeding. Then he took a rag over Steve's cheek and neck to mop up some of the blood. It still dyed his skin red but there were important things than how it looked.
"What else?" Tony's eyes looked up and down his friend's body for damage. "Your shoulder, right? You winced when I touched it." Steve thought 'wince' was a generous word to use when he'd almost squeaked.
"Yeah, but I'll be fine," Steve said, sitting up a little straighter and touching the joint cautiously.
Tony moved closer to that side of Cap's body, taking his forearm and shoulder and carefully rotating it in a small circle. Steve grit his teeth as he felt a scraping sensation in his shoulder.
"It feels like it was dislocated and popped back into place on its own. How much feeling do you have in the rest of the arm?" Tony pressed.
"Not much, but I can feel the shoulder." Steve grit. "How do you know so much about this, anyway?" He asked after realizing Tony was set on seeing this through.
"After I became Iron Man, I decided I needed to know a thing or two about medicine. Spent two weeks learning everything I could."
Steve balked a little. "Only two weeks? I mean, I knew you were smart."
"Smart doesn't begin to cover it," Tony flashed a small smile before focusing back on his arm. He placed a few fingers on Steve's wrist and moved it gently. "Can you feel this?"
The patriotic superhero shook his head. Of all the pounding and aching in his body, at least his wrist wasn't an issue.
"Well you should, it's broken. In at least two places," Tony sighed. Cap had held onto the helicopter to the point where his body, his super soldier body, had started to break. "You must have severed some nerves or tendons up in your shoulder. I doubt you'll need surgery but don't move this arm until it can be treated." Tony wrapped a bandage tight around his wrist.
"Where else?"
"My leg, I think. Knee area." Steve said, pointing to his right leg. Tony almost immediately found the break, a couple inches above the knee. He couldn't imagine what could cause a break in the body's strongest bone.
"So, Cap, have you re-thought signing? I still have those pens." He asked conversationally, not looking up. Cap stiffened.
"I haven't, Tony. I've seen this play out several times back in my own time. Never worked out. The safest hands are our own."
"Look around, buddy. Your hand's broken." Tony looked at the rips in Steve's shirt and lifted up the hem. The right side of Steve's ribs were blue and black and scraped and his breathing looked uneven. "And so, it seems, are your ribs."
"I'd rather break protecting something than wait for orders like some mercenary." Steve asserted stubbornly, his eyes looking glassy and shadowed.
Tony's jaw tightened in frustration. "That's not what this is, you asshole. It's about keeping us in check and making sure what happened doesn't happen again. Especially with Scarlet Witch."
Steve inhaled a shaky breath. "None of this is Wanda's fault, Tony. She acted because I was too much of an idiot not to let my emotions get the best of me. One word about Bucky and…I couldn't move." Steve averted his eyes and tightened his unbroken hand.
Tony took a minute to re-evaluate. Their argument had just turned into something else entirely. The weakness in Steve's eyes had to have come from his concussion.
"We're going to get Barnes back, Cap." Tony promised. And he's going to pay for what he's done. But, maybe I can provide legal defense.
Steve's eyes were getting cloudy, his body suddenly sagging like he had exhausted all his energy, his eyes fluttered.
"Tony, I'm not ready to get off." Steve wasn't making any sense.
"Hey, man. Hey, buddy, stay with me." Tony reached up and patted Cap's non-bloodied cheek a few times. There was no response as his eyes dropped closed.
"Bucky and I. We were…'til the end of the line." Then blackness.
It took Cap three long blinks to realize he was awake. Light was streaming over his head so he tried to bring his arm up to block it. He frowned and looked down when he found it wouldn't move. His arm was in a sling and a thin blue and red striped cast. He scooted the cast closer to his face for inspection. Yep, he could definitely feel everything again. Aching and sore but infinitely comfortable in the soft down comforter he was under.
The cast had little drawings and words on it. Steve stared in shock. It hadn't been a thing when he was young, but he'd heard it was something modern grade school kids tended to practice it.
Cap, hope you feel better, after all, you're an arm-y guy -Clint
He could only stare befuddled at the words and the poorly drawn arrow next to it.
Ignore Clint, he's on some pain meds too. Get better soon. nat
THOR. Steve was surprised at this one, Thor hadn't been on Earth when all this had gone down. He'd assumed he'd been out maybe a night or so. It seemed like it was longer. He read the next message.
I'm not Birdman. When you're up we're gonna have to put a stop to this. It was, of course, Sam. Curiously, a good third of the cast was covered in numbers and equations. After he pulled his arm out of the sling, he saw Tony's actual message.
Ran out of paper. You were the closest thing around. Plus side, I had a breakthrough in fiber optic tech. -TS
"Well look who's up!" Soft footsteps came into the room he recognized now as his room in the Avengers Tower. He'd had other things on his mind.
"Natasha." He greeted warmly but he was surprised to hear his voice was hoarse. He scooted into a semi-seated position against the headboard. He gently touched his ribs. They were still very tender, probably just healing the breaks.
"Don't strain yourself." She said, pulling a seat over to the bed. Steve wondered if it was going to be awkward between the two of them. Despite teaming up so often, they'd picked different sides. If she bore will ill towards him, her calm attitude did not show it. "How are you feeling?"
Steve groaned, reaching out to touch his leg, which was being kept immobile with a brace. "Like an elevator fell on me."
"Mm—wait, is that what happened?" She leaned in a little. "None of us could figure out what happened." She exhaled through her nose, shaking her head. "An elevator fell on you."
"How is everyone else?"
"Everyone's fine. Tony's still pretty bruised up. Clint cracked four ribs. Sam had a concussion. All in all, we all were pretty lucky, except you." Natasha summed up. Steve felt guilt rising like bile. He hadn't asked if Tony was hurt when he saw him.
"How long was I out?"
"Almost two days now. It's about to be dinner time and everyone's here if you're feeling up to it." Natasha's lips quirked up in her signature smile.
He'd been fighting with his teammates just two days ago over what they were going to do with their careers, the status of their own freedom and the safety of the world. Could they so easily come together, put that aside and have dinner together? Steve nodded, despite his hesitancy.
"Give me a second to change. I'll be out in a minute."
"Alright," she said, touching his shoulder before leaving the room again. Steve carefully pulled himself out of the covers and sat on the edge of the bed, waiting for his head to stop spinning. When it did, he stood up, pulled off his t-shirt and sweatpants (who dressed him?) and wandered over to his closet for something a little more alive and a little less bed-ridden.
His stomach was wrapped tight with bandages The smaller scrapes that had littered his body from debris from both the elevator and the helicopter had healed entirely. He still had to limp along in the restricting brace on his leg. Eventually, he found a nice enough shirt and a pair of jeans and headed slowly toward the kitchen barefooted.
Thor, Natasha, Tony, and Clint were there, cooking pancakes, it seemed. All their heads swiveled as Steve walked into sight. A chorus of greeting all overlapped with each other for a few moments.
"I see that you are feeling well, Captain. Great news!" Thor boomed over the crowd.
By Natasha's sly smile, she hadn't told them he'd be coming to dinner.
"Cap, glad to see you up with the living again!" Tony called from over the griddle. "Blueberry or banana?"
"Chocolate chip." He said, limping over to the stool between Thor and Clint that the archer had been gesturing to.
Tony grinned and reached into a cabinet for the chocolate chips and took out an extra box of pancake mix. "Jeez, ordering off the menu. I'll let it slide this time."
"How're the ribs, Clint?" Steve asked, staring greedily at the batter sizzling as it was poured on the griddle. He hadn't eaten in two days.
"Not bad. I'll be shooting bad guys out of the sky by the end of the day."
"Let us hope that is not the case," Thor chuckled.
"Oh, and guess how Steve took all that damage?" Natasha said, instantly capturing the Avenger's attention. Apparently, it had been a widely speculated event. "An elevator fell on him."
The only sound for a few seconds was the sizzling batter until—
"What, you were at the bottom?" Tony asked incredulously. And you're in one piece?
"Wait a minute, I saw the guy who shot the cable. We were on the ninth floor. If it fell all that way…" Clint thought out loud, a horrified expression on his face.
Steve nodded uncomfortably. "The elevator deformed when it hit so I crawled out around it." Steve unconsciously rubbed the bandage on his forehead. He'd peaked at the wound while he was changing. It was stitched up, which means he'd probably been brought to a hospital, then lugged back here for more comfort and privacy. His teammates went through a lot of trouble for him. Especially during a time where it was unsure if they would all stay that way.
In many ways, in the boardroom, it had felt like the start of a civil war. It was an entirely different feeling now. Everyone was talking and happy to be in each other's company, sharing successes. Steve had to smile, looking down at his cast, at all the messages they'd written him.
"Here you go, Cap. Chocolate chip pancakes." Tony set the heaping pile of pancakes in front of the hungry Avenger. They'd already been covered in syrup.
"Thanks, guys." Steve dug in.
Thanks for reading and please review! There is one more chapter coming up, from the perspective of the Avengers signing Cap's cast so look out for that too! Also if you want more while you wait, I have a one-shot about Cap finding out Peggy died.