Chapter 3 - Backup

Steve's POV

Chianni had been knocked out for a few hours, and we wanted him to stew for a while, so when we got back to the New Avengers Facility, we dropped him in one of our containment cells and then all split up to get some sleep. My sleep had been filled with visions of the beautiful, brave brunette who helped me out, no questions asked, stood up for herself, and it seemed could hold her own in a fight.

Of course, she'd said she was a bounty hunter, so she'd have to be able to hold her own. Still, Chianni had several inches and at least fifty pounds on her, and she'd managed to take him out, so I was impressed. But what I really dreamed about was her lips on mine, and the way she'd felt pressed up against me. That wasn't something that I'd really taken the time to let myself have in this century. I hadn't allowed myself the time to take a break and find anyone special. It was amazing how quickly this one woman wormed her way into my brain and latched on.

Certainly it wasn't my heart that she'd found her way into. It was much too soon, and I wouldn't allow that. When it seemed she wasn't going to release me from her grasp anytime soon, I gave up on sleeping even though it had only been a few hours, and made my way outside for a run.

Every morning, I ran the perimeter of our space, and made sure nothing seemed out of place. Sure, FRIDAY was on watch, as were the small security team we'd pulled together so far, but I still liked to do so for my own piece of mind. Sometimes Bucky would join me, but after he'd settled into the place and started thinking of it as his home, he did so less and less often. Instead, he'd spend his mornings with Natasha, and always liked to tell me that someday I'd find myself a woman worth spending a few extra hours in bed and running on a treadmill instead of outside for.

I still wasn't sure about that, though my thoughts drifted momentarily back to Steph. When I pulled up to a walk back outside the facility, I made my way through to the gym. Reaching it, I was satisfied to see the rest of the team already inside and going about their various morning workouts.

There were several side conversations going on, but each one ground to a stop, when Natasha's husky voice eventually cut into my own mental wanderings saying, "she really threw you for a loop, didn't she, Cap? And to think, you're the one that kissed her. She's probably twice as distracted as you this morning."

I sat up from where I was bench pressing and huffed out a breath when I saw everyone staring at me expectantly.

"I thought you were on a mission last night," Sam teased. "You finally break your dry spell and get some while you were out? That's so not like you."

Coming from anyone else, I might have gotten angry. But I knew Sam was genuinely interested in my emotional health, and he felt a relationship would be stabilizing for me.

"I didn't get some," I ground out, annoyed by the phrase. "I just, had to maintain my cover."

"Is that what you kids are calling it these days," Rhodey tossed in. It was refreshing after Tony's jokes calling me an old man, to have Rhodey constantly making references to me being younger than him. As though the time on the ice didn't count.

Apparently everyone decided they weren't getting more out of me than that, so they switched to staring at a grinning Bucky. Bucky, of course, was all too happy to comply, "the Punk caught this pretty little thing's eye and put on a decent show of flirting with her across the room. Of course, he let it go on for too long, and got too close, so she recognized him. Before she could out him, he just kissed the hell out of her and told her they need to talk. Somehow she played along, got in a few of her own moves."

"Steve explained to her that he was on a mission," Natasha crowed excitedly, "and she knew the guy we were after because apparently she's a bounty hunter and knows all the cops. Then she offered to deliver him to us on a silver platter."

"Brunette, with curly hair and kind, accepting blue eyes. She's around Natasha's height and less curvy but average weight, right?" Wanda said in that distant way of hers. When Natasha nodded, Wanda just smiled mysteriously and added, "good. I will go prepare."

She wandered out, and Pietro just looked after her like he was torn between following her and hearing the story that was being told. With a sigh and a resigned shake of his head, he took off after his twin, muttering something about how she'd better have a good explanation.

"She bring you Chianni?" Sam asked. When I nodded, he questioned, "how'd she get him to you?"

Bucky spoke up, "she'd had dealings with him on one case, something about a gang banger he was arresting threatening her. And she said he was a drinking buddy of her ex. Basically she made Steve put the moves on her rather obviously, decked him, and then went up to the cop and harassed him into walking her to her car to make sure she'd be safe. He didn't want to, but she just laid the guilt on real thick about what if something happened to her. I don't think the guy really cared, and just went to make her shut up so he could get back to his night."

Natasha took a turn saying, "when he realized what she'd done, he called her some names then ran at her and she took him down quite effectively."

"I liked that part," I admitted with a big smile. I had always been partial to a woman who wasn't some shrinking wallflower, and laughed at the knowing grin Bucky gave me at that.

"So, did you get her number?" Sam asked.

"Nah, but she told me how to find her again," I said. "Left my jacket with her though. Figured I'd give FRIDAY a little workout at some point today."

"I'm offended that you don't think I already have her number," Natasha sniffed. "Maybe I won't give it to you now."

I shot her my best sad eyes, and she murmured that I was pathetic, but handed off a piece of paper to me anyway. I opened it up and it said, "what is this, the 40s? I already programmed it into your phone under 'Make a Move Damn It!'"

I laughed and Sam grabbed the note out of my hand before doing the same and passing it off to Rhodey. I watched as the note made it's way around to Bucky who pulled Natasha into a kiss.

"I leave you all alone for a couple months and this is what training turns into? What a lazy bunch," Clint hollered from the doorway.

"What're you doing here?" I strode over and asked while smiling and shaking his hand. "Finally bored?"

"Nah, just figured you'd have gotten yourselves into trouble by now. Plus, I had to check on the new kids, make sure they were still on the straight and narrow."

There was a blue blur as Pietro ran back in, past Clint and knocked him over, "seems you're the one who is out of practice, old man!"

In a flash he was gone again, and Clint just called out, "missed you too, asshole!"

Clint had a big bag with him, so I nodded to it and asked, "you back?"

"Laura said that if I didn't go give her some peace and quiet, that she'd kick my ass. Says I'm not allowed back until I bring you all with me for a Labor Day barbecue. If I'm good and I bring a nice girl home with me, I can visit at Thanksgiving. Otherwise, Christmas."

Natasha barked out a laugh, and said, "I've always loved her."

"And I've always regretted introducing you to my sister," Clint said.

"Please, I needed somewhere quiet to go while I shook the programming," Natasha murmured.

"Speaking of, how'd you shake it so fast?" Clint asked Bucky.

Bucky raised a brow but said, "Wanda."

"Huh," Clint replied. "Good for both of you then. Where is the good twin?"

"Dunno," Sam said, "we were all hearing about Steve's new girlfriend, and Wanda said she had to go get ready. What for, I have no idea."

"She's not my girlfriend, yet," I replied, wincing when I realized my mistake.

"Yet?" Clint asked.

When I remained silent, Sam prodded, "but you want her to be."

"Yes. No. I don't know. Maybe," I said.

"Yes it is," Rhodey spoke up. "Always trust your first instinct."

"With someone as wise as you, I believe this to be the best course of action as well," Vision said. He floated forward and shook Clint's hand before saying, "perhaps you'd like to come help me question our newest visitor. I believe with your interrogation skills and the Mind Stone, we should be able to quickly ascertain everything he knows about this newest HYDRA cell."

"But, I want to hear about Cap's new girl," Clint protested, though he still allowed Vision to pull him away.

As they moved in the direction of the holding cells, I could hear Vision reassure Clint that he'd already reviewed the after action reports and the recordings from our communications equipment and would happily provide all the information he requested.

"I have no privacy," I grumbled to myself.

"Not when you find a woman while wired up and on a mission, Punk," Bucky said gleefully.

The rest of the day was spent with more training with Wanda, who apparently was ready for whatever she needed to be ready for, Pietro, Natasha, Sam, and Rhodey, with Natasha occasionally leaving to check in on the interrogation. We'd decided that Natasha would take point with this case because, although she had her own set of issues with HYDRA, she wasn't nearly as personally involved as Bucky and I were, so she was better off taking lead.

I read her reports, and helped develop an action plan when one was ready, but in the meantime, I tried not to micromanage too much. And Bucky and I would definitely be in on the action when it came time to make a move on the cell.

At dinner, which we got to a little late, I sat staring at my phone. Finally, I flipped open the contacts and corrected Steph's name from what Natasha had programmed her in as.

"Oh my god, just call her!" Rhodey burst out.

"No, text her," Natasha said. "That way you don't come off as nervous."

"I'm with Natasha on this one," Sam said. "Plus, people don't really call anymore."

I opened up a text message, trying to decide what to say. Clint's cheery voice cut in with, "so, what are you going to say?"

I looked up to see everyone staring at me intently, including some of the support staff at other tables in the cafeteria, and I resolutely shoved the phone back in my pocket. "If I'm going to send a message," I hissed out, "it will be when I have some privacy."

Everyone started talking and arguing, so I barely heard Sam's phone ring. He held up a finger when he saw the display and said to us, "just a second. This is one of the guys from the VA and that I flew a rescue op for back a few years ago. Let me just make sure it's nothing major, probably just wants me to take a shift for him or something."

The guy on the other end of the phone was so worked up, you didn't need super hearing to hear his end of the conversation. When Sam asked, "Steph's missing?" I immediately made a grab for the phone, fighting the rest of the team off to get to it first.

"This is Captain Rogers," I said quickly. "Tell me what happened."

"Hello, Captain," I heard with more than a touch of hostility behind it. "So are you just using civilians and putting them in danger now?"

"Listen, I don't know who you are-"

I was cut off by an angry voice that said, "name's Ranger Manoso. Steph does part time contract work for my security company, and she's my best friend. She doesn't have any cases open for me or any open failure to appear files, but I have video of her helping you out last night with some sort of apprehension. Now her apartment door is in pieces, Steph's missing, and I've got a few dozen employees out for blood. In deference to your team, I'm holding them off investigating any further, but you better have some kind of plan to get Steph back or all bets are off!"

I ran a hand through my hair, and said, "look, I just met her last night, she offered to help, and I didn't think it would put her in any danger. I'll be there in twenty minutes- got anywhere I can park a jet?"

"We've got a helipad on the roof, will that work?"

Natasha cleared her throat and I just said, "yeah, that's fine. I'm bringing my team. Rangeman Trenton, right?"

As soon as I hung up, Rhodey and Clint said in unison, "you know Ranger?!" to Sam. The three eyed each other warily, but I just ignored it. "Avengers: Assemble!" I called over my shoulder, already running out of the room. FRIDAY started blaring the alarm, and I pulled on my uniform quickly in our locker room, grabbing my shield as I ran back out the door.

Much to my surprise, Natasha was already in the command center, suited up herself when I reached it. Sometimes, I was certain she could do magic. "You got a picture of her from your background check?" I asked, cutting my glaze over to her and catching the smile that I knew her well enough to know she'd run one.

Natasha tapped on a keyboard and a copy of Steph's driver's license popped up as well as a more recent picture. The rest of the Avengers piled in, and the various support staff set up their posts.

"Okay," I called out. "This is Stephanie Plum. She's a bounty hunter for... " I trailed off reading the screen in front of me, "Plum Bail Bonds in Trenton, New Jersey. She also works part time for a security firm called Rangeman. Last night, while we were bringing in a suspected HYDRA agent who…"

I trailed off as Clint leaned over and whispered something to Natasha, having come in the room last. Natasha cleared her throat and said, "committed suicide via cyanide cap that was implanted in his head. He bashed himself against the wall until it broke open when he heard the alarm. It's a new location for an implant, Cap. That's why we didn't find it, I'm sorry."

I clenched my jaw and started again, "last night, while we were bringing in a HYDRA operative, we came across Ms. Plum who assisted us in capturing him quickly and quietly and with no danger to any other civilians. At some point today, she was abducted from her apartment, and her current whereabouts are unknown. We have no reason to believe she would be taken outside of the Trenton area, so for the time being I want you hacked into every camera you can find in Trenton and the surrounding suburbs. If you find her, you let us know. The team is headed to Rangeman Trenton to work with her coworkers until we safely locate her. Any questions?"

I received a chorus of "no, sir" and nodded my head before spinning on my heel and striding off.

When we reached the jet, I called for FRIDAY to act as pilot and get us to Rangeman as fast as physically possible. I stood staring at the computer screens in the jet's mobile command center, and Natasha settled in on one side, Bucky on the other.

"There's no way you could have known, Steve," Natasha said gently.

"We left her there, defenseless!" I spit out.

"She's not defenseless," Bucky said, "and you warned her they were dangerous."

I just stood there helplessly watching the face trace software pull up and reject possible matches.

"At least it's late," Clint reasoned. "There are going to be fewer faces for them to run through. They'll be able to track all the ones they've already rejected, and they'll be able to run through any new ones that pop up more quickly. If she makes it outside, we'll have her."

Unable to watch any longer, I looked over at Wanda and simply asked, "you knew?"

"I didn't know it was this, but I could tell that something was going to happen. Something that in all likelihood was going to bring her to us for a while. I was actually preparing for what would happen after that."

"And what is that?" I asked.

"Nothing bad," Wanda said. "But it is best if you're unaware until it happens. If you stop it, the consequences will be dire. It will be frightening, but ultimately for the best."

I held Wanda's gaze for a few more beats before I nodded. "Do you know if she's okay?"

"I'm sorry, I do not," she whispered, "but I can see the probability has actually grown that she will come back to you now that we're on our way to Trenton, so I think it is likely that she is alive. Having met her, I cannot see anything that doesn't involve one of us. I'm sorry."

"No, that's good," I said. I walked over to the front of the plane, and watched as we sped through the evening sky, waiting for a city appeared in front of us.

When Sam sidled up next to me, I said, "tell me about Manoso."

"I actually didn't know that was the name he was going by now, I just know him as Ranger. He's been called that since I met him. He was Army Special Forces."

"The Rangers," I said. "Is it usual for one to take on the name of the entire organization?"

"No," Clint piped up. "But Ranger is the best."

"Was the best," Sam clarified.

"Is the best," Clint insisted and Rhodey nodded his head. "I can't get into details, but he's kept a hand in."

"Do you trust him?" I asked Sam first.

"Yes," Sam replied without hesitation. "And I saved his life, so he owes me one. He's absolutely a man you want owing you a favor like that."

I looked over at Clint who said, "I'd trust him with Laura and the kids. And we've traded saves through the years. I think he's one up on me though."

Finally my gaze settled on Rhodey who said, "absolutely. No questions asked on either end, we'd go to the mats for each other."

I blew out a breath and said, "okay then, we trust him. You should all know, I'm pretty sure he wants to murder me right now."

"Well," Rhodey said contemplatively, "if your Steph is the one he calls 'Babe' and all his men call 'Bomber' as well as a few other assorted nicknames, I have no doubt that's true. He won't do it though until he's sure you can be of no further help. And if you bring her back, then you'll be fine."

"I got your back," Bucky said.

"Yeah, don't worry, Cap. We're a team- more than that really. If it comes down to it, I'm throwing down with you over him," Sam said.

Clint and Rhodey voiced their agreement, but I just said," I'd much rather we find her alive and make it unnecessary."

"Steve," Natasha said, "I have Cho on her way over, just in case."

I could see the city I recognized as Trenton speeding closer, and nodded my head, pure nerves.

"Hang on! We got a possible match!" Vision cried out triumphantly. "60%"

I walked back over to the monitors and watched as the face trace kept increasing in certainty. 78%, 82%. As soon as I saw the picture, I knew it was her. "We're going, brace yourselves. FRIDAY!" I called out, grabbing onto the roof of the jet and watching as Pietro sped up to grab Wanda and get her into a seat. Everyone else held on to whatever was handy as FRIDAY tipped the jet almost completely sideways in a sharp maneuver as we changed course. Once we were right side up again, Sam had his phone out relaying the information to Rangeman.

"They've got SUVs all over the city looking for her, and Ranger's in that damn Turbo of his," Sam said. "They'll be there just behind us."

On the monitor, you could see Steph trying to make her way undetected through a business complex. She was sticking to the shadows, which was why we were never getting a good enough shot of her face for the facial recognition to go over 85% certainty that it was a match, but I was sure. As we approached, I saw her turn wide eyes behind her, then pick herself up and run.

There was no audio on the camera we were watching, but she seemed to fall a couple times. I wasn't sure exactly why, but the last time, she grabbed at her side on the way up, so I had my concerns.

"I think she's taking fire," I warned everyone.

"Yeah, well, sounds like fun," Natasha replied. "Let's go get you a girl, Cap!"

I didn't even bother to respond, just pulled my shield off my back as the jet lowered itself. Due to the narrow gaps between buildings, we couldn't just land the jet at her, so as soon as the ramp was down, I took off running.

"Steph!" I called out, "to me!"

She didn't even hesitate, just altered her path and ran toward me. I whipped my shield off, preparing to throw it. When she completely cleared the corner, I was surprised to see that it was a car with gunmen hanging out the windows and some motorcycle riders after her, rather than people on foot.

As I ran toward her, I threw my shield, making it ricochet off one motorcycle and across to the next. Of course the angle was such that it wasn't going to get back to me, and I could see Pietro was busy with a second car, so I just grabbed Steph and spun so I was between her and the vehicle. I jumped with her in my arms, mostly clearing the SUV and kept her safely on top as we landed and slid along the ground.

Thankfully we passed by my shield, so I grabbed it, and when we came to a stop against the wall of a building, I put myself and the shield between Steph and the battle in front of us.

Apparently, Bucky was pissed because he used a grenade launcher that sent the first SUV careening into the sky on fire. Natasha was bent over one of the motorcyclists who'd gone flying off, and she looked over and shook her head. Sam did the same with the second.

I could hear the sounds of more cars coming in the distance, and figured that was the Rangeman crew, but I kept my shield up just in case as I looked at the woman in front of me. "Steph, Sweetheart, are you okay?"

"Mostly," she replied, groaning as she shifted a little. "Thanks for the save."

"You look like you were doing a pretty good job of saving yourself," I said as I started looking for wounds, starting by prying her hand away from her side. Finding the gunshot wound I'd been afraid I'd find, I put pressure on it with one hand.

"I've been on the run for a couple hours now, gave them the slip a couple of times, but I don't think I would have made it past them this time. Not with the bullets."

"Bullets, plural?" I asked. "Where else are you hit?"

"Back of my shoulder," Steph said. There was no exit wound in the front, so that was bad. "and I think the thigh? Side hurts the most though."

Her teeth were gritted as I said into the communicator in my helmet, "I need help here." Deciding the perimeter was secure enough with Clint standing in the open jet, bow at the ready, I put my shield on my back to free up both hands.

I rolled Steph onto her side and winced at the shoulder wound. Then I noticed the blood going down her jeans, and as gently as possible put my finger in the hole in the denim then ripped the rest of the leg away.

I was pretty sure she muttered, "geez, if he wanted in my pants all he had to do was ask," at that, but I wasn't sure. Of course, if Natasha's laugh was anything to go by, I was correct.

Pietro skidded to a stop next to me, and said, "what've we got?"

"Three gunshot wounds that I've found. The side, which is deep but through and through. Back of the shoulder, no exit wound, and one in the thigh, haven't looked at it much yet, just got the pants out of the way."

Pietro was by her legs, so he looked at that wound first, "this one grazed her. Another on the opposite calf, also a graze. Looks like someone beat the hell out of her too," he added, drawing my attention back to the bruises on her face.

A Porsche and an SUV pulled up right by us in a squeal of tires, and I was talking with Steph, "okay, Steph, you did it, alright? You're safe. Now, I need you to stay with me."

Wanda knelt down next to Steph, and put her hands out, going pale as the red glow started flowing between her hands and Steph's head.

Clint and Sam ran over so that they reached us at the same time as Ranger, holding him back. One of the men from the SUV rushed over with a medic pack and pulled on gloves. I explained her wounds to him as Friday told me that Dr. Cho would be at our facility faster than the eight minutes it would take us to get back once we got her on the jet.

"Ranger," I called out, carefully moving my hand from the side wound to give the medic room to work while keeping pressure on the shoulder wound. "We have the Avenger's doctor, Dr. Cho, at the facility waiting. She has a machine that can regrow tissue like it was never gone. Please let us take Steph there for medical care."

Clint said something I didn't quite hear, and Ranger nodded his head curtly. "Can you take any of us with you?"

"Four," I said, pulling the number out of nowhere really.

"Plus you and the medic," Natasha called out.

Ranger pointed to four other men and they started walking toward the jet. When the medic took over with the shoulder wound, I put pressure on the two leg wounds and Pietro sped off for the jet.

"That's handy," the medic commented even as Pietro reappeared.

"Yes," I said. "When he's not being arrogant about it. Sometimes even when he is. I'm Steve."

"Bobby," the medic replied. Then he directed his attention to Wanda and asked, "what are you doing?"

"She can't really talk right now," Pietro said. "But she's taking some of the pain for Steph. Helping to keep her conscious and slow her heart rate so she doesn't bleed so fast. When you move Stephanie, I'll carry my sister with you so she can keep it up for as long as possible."

Bobby seemed to take that in stride, just nodding. He finished taping up the shoulder and when I moved my hands from Steph's thigh, he started putting a pressure bandage on that, while I fixed another on her calf. Looking at me Bobby said, "need help getting her on that?"

"Nope," I lifted Steph straight up and onto the stretcher, and Bucky came up and grabbed the other side. Together we ran with Steph to the jet where the rest of the team was waiting with Ranger and the rest of his employees. As we ran, we fixed the straps across Steph, and when we made it to the jet, we secured the stretcher down.

I pointed Bobby to one of the seats and said, "Buckle up, we've got this, but we're going to be moving fast."

Bucky and I added pressure to Steph's more critical wounds, not shifting as the jet took off, and Pietro braced Wanda who was looking more and more pale.

"Wanda," I warned. "Don't go too far."

She just shook her head without looking up, and I exchanged a look with Pietro who just shrugged, "it'll knock her out before it'll kill her. But she may not be ready for a workout in the morning."

FRIDAY's voice cut in, "we will be landing at the medical entrance in thirty seconds."

I heard murmurs from the strangers at that, but didn't even register it, simply bracing myself and Steph as we landed. As soon as the jet powered down, Bucky and I started unclipping the stretcher. We had Steph up as the ramp touched the ground, and ran out to where the medical crew was waiting with a gurney. We set the stretcher on the gurney, and Bobby and Ranger followed as the medical team ran off, with Wanda and Pietro staying at Steph's head.

I stood there, watching after them for a few seconds, when Sam came up and clapped me on the shoulder. I winced, and he asked, "you okay, man? That SUV got you pretty good on your way over it, and you hit the ground pretty hard."

Natasha's fingers probed a bit, but I held back any further reaction as I said, "yeah, I'm fine. At least ten times better than her," and stormed off to the locker room.

Once there, I quickly stripped off my helmet and harness and stashed those in my locker. Then I peeled off the top half of my uniform and chucked it into the laundry. Someone on the cleaning staff would check to see whether or not it was salvageable, and I had others as back up either way. I ripped off my gloves and tossed them in the trash, asking FRIDAY to order an extra pair only to be informed that I already had backups of those as well.

I stopped at the sink long enough to scrub the blood off my hands and forearms, noticing Pietro doing the same. "Thanks," I said.

"She was innocent, caught in the crossfire of our battle. Of course I would help her, even if you weren't interested in her romantically. In that case, I think I would actually be pursuing her myself," Pietro teased, laughing at my reaction. "As it is, I recognize your claim to her."

"She's a woman, not a thing. I don't have a claim to her," I said, but appreciated the sentiment nonetheless. I walked out of the locker room in the exercise shirt I wore under the uniform, and still completely unchanged from the waist down. I kept my shield in hand, as I strode down the hallway, noticing that I picked up the rest of the team and Ranger's employees trailing behind me as I went.

Dr. Cho's setup was open to the rest of the team's preferred lounging space, as we usually kept whoever needed it company until treatment was done. As I walked in, I was surprised to see that Steph was still awake. When she grinned and tried to wave with her good hand, but failed because it was strapped down, I realized that the medical staff must have given her some pretty good pain killers. I nodded to Wanda, who was sitting on a stool nearby eating a cookie with gratitude, and she gave me a self-satisfied smile in return.

Steph was covered up across the bust and waist by some medical draping, so I walked forward when Dr. Cho indicated it was fine. I bent down to watch as the machine worked on her side for a moment before shifting my attention to where the doctor was trying to carefully dig out the bullet.

"It's refreshing," Dr. Cho said when I looked at her again, "to have a patient who lets me use things like pain killers and doesn't metabolize them faster than I can get them in. Makes this part easy."

She emphasized the last point, by plunking the bullet out onto the tray next to her. I picked it up and walked over to the sink to wash it off and sanitize it. When I was done, Natasha was standing there and took the bullet, moving over to a workstation. Moments later, Natasha said, "best guess, 40 caliber Smith & Wesson. We're not going to be matching the ballistics to anything though, it's well and smushed."

I walked back over to Steph's side, and Dr. Cho looked me over as I moved. "Stephanie here was telling me all about how you took her for a ride up and over and SUV and then skidded along the ground without your shield. You okay under there?" She nodded her chin to my shirt, and when I just nodded my head she said, "I don't believe you."

She said something in Korean to her assistants, and then stepped away from Steph and stripped off her gloves. I could sense the amused gaze of Ranger as the smaller woman just pulled me to the side, grabbed a pair of scissors and cut my shirt off.

She poked at what I knew was bruising, and said, "mmmhmm, broken rib."

"I'm sure it's just cracked," I tried.

"Maybe in an hour it will be, but right now it's broken. So I expect you to behave accordingly in the meantime." She poked and prodded a few more times before gently shoving me away by my arm. "You'll live."

I was grateful when Sam called my name and tossed me a new shirt, this one white to pull on over my head again. Where I'd been standing was out of Steph's view, so when I walked back into her line of sight she said, "you changed your shirt! I like this one better, more arms."

I barked out a laugh that was matched by pretty much everyone else in the room as I was now clothed in a tank top and my arms were bare.

Steph had apparently dismissed me again, distracted by the machine working on her side. "I've never seen one of these before," she said in awe.

"One day, I hope they'll be in every hospital," Dr. Cho said. "But for the time being, they still need some work, and each time we use it it costs about-" I cleared my throat and shook my head, cutting the doctor off. "well, let's just say for the time being it is too expensive to use on anyone other than the Avengers, really."

"I'm not an Avenger!" Steph said.

"No you're not," Natasha slid up next to her and said, "but you got hurt helping us, so you get treated like one until you're all better."

"Sounds good to me," Steph replied before closing her eyes.

I looked over at Dr. Cho who nodded and said, "that's the pain killers finally overcoming the adrenaline. It's fine. She'll be up and about good as new in a couple hours, and her tissue should be regrown before then. Really, it'll be like nothing ever happened."

"Thank you Doctor, and sorry for getting you up so late."

"It was actually early morning when I received your call, and I had just woken up."

"Still, we appreciate you making the trip. When are you going to take us up on our offer to move over here?"

Her eyes wandered over to Vision, and he said, "I promise, you can study me as much as time allows."

She nodded her head and said, "I'm keeping my old facility as well, and I'll need to hire some more medical staff."

I smiled and said, "perfect. Why don't you go get some breakfast? I trust you remember your way to the cafeteria?"

With a nod of agreement, Dr. Cho and her staff quickly finished up with Steph, removing the IV and telling us to make sure she stayed put and they'd return to work on her back shortly. As that one was mostly muscle tissue, and they'd already programmed the machine into Steph's genetic makeup, it wouldn't take as long. Looking over at Ranger, I inclined my head towards the debrief area where the rest of the team was gathered a short ways away. We could all watch over Steph in case she woke up from there.