A/N: Remember I said last time that you wouldn't see Steve until Chapter 5? Well, I remembered I gave Pepper all the plot exposition. You won't understand what the others are talking about without this chapter, so the investigation begins next time. Here's more Steve and Pepper.

Chapter 3: Frozen

Steve woke to a nightmare, wondering if he was awake at all. He couldn't move. He couldn't see. He was trapped, trapped in the ice still. Avengers, Chitauri, SHIELD all a taunting dream.

His heart thumped frantically. His breath came faster, pumping in and out of a tube down his throat. What was that? That wasn't part of the ice.

Then he realized he wasn't cold. He was comfortably warm and there was a particularly warm and welcome sensation in his hand, until it moved away.

Steve would have whimpered if he could have, but the warmth moved to his face, cradling his cheeks. And then he finally heard the words over the hissing pump.

"Steve. Steve. It's Pepper. Calm down. You're in SHIELD Medical. You've been poisoned, but you're going to be OK. Bruce said your body is already throwing off the poison. You just have to be patient."

Pepper. It was Pepper. The name, the voice brought it all back, the attack, the dart. Curare. He remembered.

Steve would have wept with relief if he could have. He wasn't back in the ice. The Avengers were real.

He tried to follow Pepper's instructions. Slowing his breathing, which slowed the frantic pounding of his heart.

Shrill beeping noises died down. The hissing wheeze of the breathing pump eased. Now Steve could hear more. He heard Pepper: "I think you can take out the breathing tube now."

"Yes, it's obvious he's breathing on his own again," a new voice said. The voice moved closer. "Captain, I am Dr. Imayanagita. I am going to pull the tube out. It will be uncomfortable, but breathe out and it will be over quickly."

The sensation would have been very unpleasant, if Steve hadn't been numb all over. Then relief with the tape and tube gone.

"Can you open your eyes?"

Steve tried valiantly, but achieved a mere flutter.

"That's all right," the doctor soothed. "You're doing fine. You're improving with every minute. I am going to touch your face now and raise your eyelids to check your pupil reaction. The light may seem very bright, but I will be quick."

A gentle touch on his face, then Bright! And Bright again! Steve's breath huffed out in protest. The doctor let the eyelids close again.

"Still dilated, but reactive." He felt a pat on his shoulder. "This must be unnerving, but you are improving by leaps and bounds."

Unnerving was an inadequate word, like doctors calling excruciating pain "discomfort." Steve was terrified by his immobility, but warmth enveloped his hand again.

"I'm here, Steve," Pepper said. "I won't leave you alone. You should rest. Go back to sleep."

The very idea made Steve tense.

Pepper laughed with delight. "I felt that. I felt your arm muscle tighten. You are getting better."

Somehow Pepper's words were more reassuring than the doctor's.

"I'll talk for a while, then. I should tell you what happened," Pepper said. "The attack on me wasn't the only one." Her voice broke. "Three other businesspeople were attacked in the same way, by a mob pretending to be reporters. I knew them all, Steve. They were good people, genuinely charitable. Phoebe Langston was a good friend. They didn't have Captain America to save them. They all died right away, so did a medical student who tried to help Carl. He cut his finger on the poisoned dart. Four dead, Steve. Four. We think two other attacks were foiled because the targets didn't leave their buildings on schedule. At least, we assume they were targets. Samantha and Conrad are on the same charity boards as the rest of us. Sam was delayed by a call from her daughter who is in college. Conrad had some business crisis come up so he ordered lunch in."

Steve wondered how the Avengers knew about the ambushes if they didn't happen. Pepper felt him tense again and divined his thoughts.

"Tony figured it out. He's almost as clever as he thinks he is," she joked. "When he heard about the other three attacks, he used crowd sourcing to see if any Avengers fans had noticed odd groups of people waiting around office buildings."

This was pretty much gibberish to Steve — except for the part about Tony being clever, which was a given. Steve tried stiffening his muscles to catch Pepper's attention.

"Oh, I suppose that doesn't mean much to you. You know how some people are on their cellphones all the time?" She laughed. "Like me," she confessed. "Well, some of them — a lot of them — follow any chitchat about the Avengers. So Tony sent out a message to this 'crowd,' asking for help. He got a lot of responses, but Jarvis saw there was a pattern focusing on two buildings, so SHIELD and the police went. Groups scattered as soon as the police arrived. It was impossible to tell the lurkers from the frightened bystanders. But you knocked out one of the men who was pestering me. Tony, Thor, Clint and Natasha have him. (Bruce is here, running tests on your blood to make sure the serum is fighting the poison.) Tony and the others are looking for the men who did this."

They'll get answers, Steve thought. He hoped so. He didn't want Pepper to be in danger again.

"Tony's angry," Pepper said softly.

They'll definitely get answers, Steve thought with relief.

Pepper continued her distracting chatter and Steve relaxed enough to go back to sleep.

Pepper saw the readings slow. She gently brushed Steve's hair off his forehead, sat back more comfortably in her chair and continued her wait.

A/N: The rest of the Avengers next time. And things start to get weird.