AN: Although I spent literal hours researching brain surgery for this chapter and have exhaustive first responder training, thanks to years of working with horses and children (*Buzz Lightyear voice* concussion checks...concussion checks everywhere...) we're dealing with super humans here.

It's a hodge podge of real medical conditions layered with some not-so-real medical conditions - that's the joy of storytelling!

TLDR: Sorry for any dubious medical content. I did my best.


"I've gone over the test results three times." Bruce clears his throat, clearly aware of all the eyes on him. "It wasn't a seizure."

"What?" Steve, elbows on the back of the chair he has flipped around, is gobsmacked. "I was there, Bruce. That was a seizure. His limbs were tensing and jerking and he could barely get his jaw open."

The others are strangely quiet. They've all convened around the kitchen table and bowls of Pepper's taco salad. Nobody's touched it yet except for Clint, flicking kidney beans into his mouth.

It's been three hours since the episode but Steve is still ringing with the shock wave of it. He's pale and his teeth chatter sometimes.

Bruce hands him a mug of oolong and Steve thanks him with a weak smile.

Bucky has actually joined them for this meeting, the first time he's left the medbay at all. He straightens from his place at Steve's side. "Stevie had a seizure once, when he was really little. Caused by a fever that got too high."

Tony's brow quirks up. "Not that I don't love juicy tidbits from our past lives—and you'll have to tell me more, later—but what does that have to do with Peter?"

Nat interrupts before Bucky can answer. "You said he was aware?"

"I swear," says Steve. "He looked right at me. His eyes were almost too conscious."

"He said both our names." Bucky glances around the room. "He was…in pain. He called out for help."

Bruce rubs at scruff he hasn't had time to shave. "That's what makes me think it wasn't a seizure."

Bucky nods. "This looked…different from a normal one. It's like his limbs were…" Bucky frowns, searching for the word he wants. He mutters something in a language Steve doesn't recognize.

Natasha nods. "Firing all at once. Barnes is right. I watched the footage Friday took when it started."

Bucky makes a face. "The robot records us in the bathroom?"

"Only when there's an emergency," Tony clarifies, looking like he's trying not to laugh. "Otherwise, complete privacy."

Steve sighs. "Can't people having seizures be in pain too?"

"Sure," says Bruce. "This, however, was obviously concentrated to his spine. That's a huge red flag, Steve."

"Of course, but…"

"Do you want it to be a seizure?"

Steve bristles at Tony's question. "All I'm saying is that seizures are treatable. This—" He waves a hand at the table's hologram. "—Might not be. I want to hang on to the thread of hope that we can help Peter."

"We are going to help him," says Clint, his first contribution to this discussion. "What do you think it was, Bruce?"

Bruce fiddles with Peter's chart. "That's the problem. I don't have a name for this and therefore no clear therapy plan."

Tony reads something in Bruce's face. "What's the good news?"

"The good news is that I did a brain scan and I at least know what happened, though I can't tell you why. I've never seen this phenomenon before."

"Shoot, doc." Bruce curls his shoulder and, softer, Clint says, "It's okay, Bruce. Whatever it is, you can tell us."

"Here's his brain scan when we first brought Peter home." Bruce swipes a neural map onto the hologram. Nat spins it around, searching the scant brain activity to no avail. "Here's two hours ago."

The second copy of Peter's brain, outlined in blue, has tiny white dots running along the front. Though subtle, it's enough of a contrast to the one next to it.

Tony audibly inhales. "It almost looks like…"

"When someone dreams," Bruce finishes. "I agree. But it's not the synaptic activity between the two that caught my eye. Look at the veins, the blood vessels."

Steve is confused, very much over his head here, but even he sees a difference.

Natasha stands, lips parted. "Is that…correct me if I'm wrong here, but are you telling us something was depriving his brain of full nerve capacity before now?"

Bruce nods, breathless even though he's barely moved. "Something sent a sudden rush of synaptic information to his cranium and it triggered his parasympathetic nervous system."

Clint and Steve share a familiar look.

Tony sees and, for once, is kind about it. "You know what hydroplaning is, right?"

"It's no fun, I know that." Clint shrugs. "When your car stops responding to commands because it's skidding on water deeper than the tires. What's your point?"

"Then you know that any command you give the steering system while hydroplaning, though delayed, will actually happen once your tires hit pavement."

Steve's pulse picks up. "Peter's brain came back online and started firing all the commands it couldn't while he was…vegetative."

Tony points a finger gun at him. "Basically. That's a crude analogy but it applies here."

"I don't know why," Bruce repeats, "And I'm working on it. But that…dream he had, for lack of a better term, triggered something physical. All the nerve endings lit up at once like when a computer reboots."

"He's in there somewhere." Natasha's voice is the quietest yet. "Today proved that his mind wasn't erased by the oxygen deprivation."

Bucky's eyes drop. "Have I apologized for that yet?"

"Not your fault." The four of them say it in a droning unison. Tony pipes over them with a, "only about a thousand times, yeah."

Bruce squirms and Clint frowns. "Bruce?"

"I don't want to say this, but you deserve to know…what you saw tonight might have been a brain surge."

Steve doesn't understand but Tony must. The man goes stiff all over, jaw hardening. He locks flaming eyes on Bruce, brows drawn low.

"Absolutely not."

Bruce sighs. "Tony—"

"That can't have been a brain surge."

"It fits all the symptoms."

"There's no way that was a brain surge."

Bruce's eyes ignite with a rare fire of his own. He inhales and uncurls to his full height. "Why? Just because you don't want it to be? That's not what Peter needs right now."

For once in his life, Tony is speechless.

Natasha resumes her seat and glances between the two men. She keeps her voice at that even cadence reserved for Bruce. "Since no one else will ask—what's a brain surge, Bruce?"

Bruce's anger snuffs as quickly as it came. He deflates, looking tired. "It's the…the lighting up, so to speak, of the brain right before it…"

Tony again meets Bruce's eyes but this time they're both pained.

"Right before it dies," Tony murmurs.

There's a vile moment of silence. Everyone, though perfectly frozen, rocks back from the impact. Steve feels like he's just taken a few rounds to the throat.

"But…he's still alive." Bucky's small voice startles them back to the present. "He didn't die. He's still living and breathing down there."

"Sergeant Barnes." Bruce lays a gentle hand on Bucky's arm. "We're talking about brain dead, not physically dead. He can't even breathe for himself right now; I have him on a ventilator. And he hasn't regained consciousness since the episode."

Bucky's face falls. Steve pats his other, flesh hand, under the table where it rests on his knee. Bucky flips his hand around so it can clasp Steve's. Steve is thrilled to feel a real pulse point, the reminder that they've both somehow made it out alive this time, beaten the odds.

"Dr. Banner?"

Steve startles for a second time, at Friday's urgent tone.

Tony answers. "What up, Fri?"

"I finished analyzing that anomalous patch along Mr. Parker's spinal column that Dr. Banner noticed."

Steve throws a look at Bruce, impressed. "And?"

"The shape is in fact a shard of bone. It's free-floating and putting too much pressure on the nerves of his spine, probably caused by the bullet."

Tony stands, and he wears that expression of intense anticipation and understanding they've come to know well. Steve's heart picks up again, reacting to the galloping sound of Tony's.

"Friday," Tony starts. "Are you telling me that the loose bone chip is sitting…"

"It's cutting off nerve function, yes, to the L1 region of his lumbar, and the damage to his neck—"

Bucky winces.

"—Seems to have pinched his cranial nerves."

Bruce lights up at once, eyes wide and mouth almost, almost a smile.

"Bruce?" Clint asks again. "Does this mean that if we remove the bone chip sitting on his nerves that it will restore sensation to his legs and mental function?"

Bruce looks to Tony. "How fast can we get Cho here?"

"Surgery?"

"It's his only option, Tony."

Clint knocks on the table top. "Hellooooo? Earth to the smarty pants club. Can all this be reversed?"

"Maybe not," says Bruce. "But we have to try. At the very least, we can reattach some of the severed areas near his cranium. I can't believe that damage went unnoticed."

"It's a perfunctory reaction, Doctor," Friday assures Bruce. "Most trained professionals fail to notice this issue in eighty-eight percent of cases."

Bruce nods but Steve can tell he's stopped listening.

Steve, in turn, tunes out most of the medical jargon slinging between Tony and Bruce. He fixates on one aspect of this whole conversations and feels like he's breathing oxygen for the first time in days. His hand positively strangles Bucky's now but the man looks just as excited.

"Does this mean Peter has a hope of getting through this?" Steve asks.

Hope.

Tony stops mid sentence to smile at them. "Yeah. Yeah! it means we might at least be able to guarantee that Peter lives."

What happens next even Steve could never have predicted—

Two tears slide in rapid succession down Bucky's cheeks. He swats them away but more just take their place.


Did I mention my huge soft spot for doctor!Bruce?