CHAPTER FIVE: STAY

REGARU CHURCH SITE

"Cap, they've got reinforcements coming in from the northeast!" Steve heard Sam belt out on the coms. They had arrived in the small town of Regaru fifteen minutes ago on mission but had walked right into an ambush. There were more armed men than they had expected and more skilled than the reports had said. They had taken out twelve agents already and were making their way to more. Steve looked around the colossal church they had infiltrated. It had both been a place of prayer and a school before it was run down a century ago. He tried to zip down the maze of hallways but they were never ending.

"Do we have blueprints yet? Where's SHIELD?" he roared into his mic as three men ran down the hallway towards him. He fought his way through them and continued down the hall they had come from.

"I think- signal- blocked," Sam kept getting cut off by static. Damn it. How did they not see this coming? He stopped and took a moment to look around. His team was in here and needed him to pull it together and get everyone out. Mechanical whirring caught his attention. He ran towards it to find Stark fighting. He threw his shield, hitting two men and making them slump onto the ground before it ricocheted back to him.

"Didn't need the assist," Stark said as he took the last man out. His helmet opened to reveal he was sweaty and panting underneath.

"What's going on? Your scans didn't show all these men," he scolded.

"I'm sorry cap that the endless technology I provide made a mistake." Steve let out a heavy breath in frustration.

"We have no idea how many of them there are. They have specialized weapons, Tony. This had Hydra written all over it."

"I've noticed," he replied sarcastically before closing the helmet. "What do you want to do?"

"We can't fight forever. I'll find the others. You fly up and see if you can get us a line to SHIELD. We're going to need backup." Tony straightened his hand and put it to his temple in a sarcastic salute.

"Aye aye Captain." He flew up and out of sight. Steve ran into more men as he rounded a corner and found an entrance to a courtyard. Six men flew at him and he fought to keep them all at bay. He didn't move in time and was hit by an electrical charge from one of their amped up guns. He fell to his knees and clutched his shoulder where it had hit. A couple men got a hit in before he reached for his shield and knocked them out. Only the man with the gun was left standing and he was firing away at him. Steve managed to block all the charges with his shield but they were strong enough to push him back in doing so. The man sent another shot flying at Steve and took off as soon as he did. Steve ran after him but he had disappeared down the hall.

"Tony? Tony, can you hear me?" It was just static. "Sam?"

"Steve!" Sam's voice was strained as he heard the grunts from a fight.

"Sam, where are you?"

"Chur-." He was cut off by static. Church. That's probably what he was trying to say. Steve ran back to the courtyard and looked up to see the tall church tower to the left and took off after it.

"Can anyone report? Romanov? Wanda?" No answer. He rushed to the tower, making his way through armed men as he did. They were trained and their guns unlike any they'd seen before. They were powerful and surely deadly to an ordinary human, making him worry for his team. He finally found the church entrance and heard crashing inside. When he entered, he saw Sam and Natasha in the dead center fighting. As he made his way towards them, he noticed that they weren't moving but it looked like guarding something.

"Steve!" Sam yelled and some of the men turned towards him. They began to charge at him so he did the same. More men seemed to be funneling in as they were already struggling to keep everyone down.

"What is that?" Steve asked, spotting a large device behind Natasha.

"A weapon. Whatever it is, they're desperate for it so it has to have some power." Steve took out another man and looked over at it. "We need a plan!" Natasha shouted as she kicked and sent a man flying. A high church window suddenly shattered and a man came flying in. A second later, Wanda came flying in after. She assessed the situation and sent hexes flying, taking out all the men around her team.

"Wanda!" Sam shouted in relief. She landed on the ground as men charged at her. She drummed up her energy and sent a blast that knocked out all those near her. Steve looked at her, seeing a gash across her cheek. She sent out another flare that took out more men but using so much power at once was draining her. Steve ran over to her as she leaned over to catch a breath.

"Are you okay?" She grabbed his arm to pull herself up.

"Just need a minute."

"No!" Sam yelled and they both turned to see one of the men had somehow made it to the machine and flipped a switch.

"Hail Hydra." was all he said before he collapsed. The machine lit up and geared to life. Steve saw it go off in an explosion of light and then it stopped. He saw red energy trapping the white light and flames in a dome. He turned to see Wanda wielding her magic.

"Steve," she said worriedly. "I can't hold this for long." The flames seemed to be trying to stretch out of Wanda's forcefield in an attempt to escape.

"Everyone out! Sam get Natasha as far as you can." He shouted. Sam and Natasha exchanged looks. "Now!" They nodded and Natasha held onto Sam and he flew up and out of the front church doors.

"Steve." Her voice was desperate.

"Hey, you can do this." She looked into his eyes. He was so sure of her abilities, even though she herself wasn't.

"Cap." He turned to see Stark and Rhodes as they flew down. "What is that?"

"I don't know."

"Wanda?" Rhodes took a step towards her.

"You need to get out. Now," Steve said sternly to them.

"We're not leaving you. We're a team."

"Take him," Wanda said and motioned to Steve.

"Wanda," he tried to argue but she cried out as the forcefield grew larger. She was struggling to keep it in.

"Go!"

"I'm not leaving you." She looked over at him. He was so stubborn.

"Then I have to leave you." She willed all the power in her body to lift herself and the forcefield into the air and crashed through the roof.

"Wanda!" Steve yelled but she was too far up. She kept climbing up into the air as her whole body screamed in pain. Her eyes fluttered and her body gave out. She felt herself begin to free fall before a loud explosion went off and she was hit.

Back in the church, the men watched as Wanda had lifted herself and the device into the sky.

"I've got her. Get him to the Quinjet," Tony barked out to Rhodes and shot off into the sky after Wanda.

"Let's go." They took off as Steve looked for any sign of Wanda or Tony. It came in the form of a loud explosion in the clouds.

"No!" he yelled to no avail. They landed by the quinjet where Sam and Natasha were waiting inside.

"What happened?" Natasha ran to them looking behind them. "Where's Maximoff? And Stark?"

"We don't know," Rhodes answered. "Is the jet fired up?"

"We're not leaving without them," Steve argued.

"Steve, I'm going to find them but you're all injured. You need to go." He looked at Sam and Natasha who were sporting nasty cuts. "I've got them. Take care of these two." Rhodes took off before he could say anything, leaving him looking at Sam.

Wanda had to be okay. They'd find her and bring her in. He just needed to trust in his team. He jumped into the pilot seat and launched the jet into the air. He used the rear cameras to look at the large explosion that had left the sky littered with smoke and dust. Trust the team.

He flew to SHIELD's nearest main base in Estonia and helped his team out to get looked at. He changed and had just begun his examination when he heard a loud noise from the bays. He bolted out to see Tony flying in carrying a limp Wanda in his arms.

"Did you people not hear SAT? We need medical!" He barked as he gently landed. Steve rushed to him.

"Tony." Stark looked up at him as he reached them. Steve looked down at Wanda. She had cuts on her face and all over her costume but more noticeably, a large wound wrapping around the right side of her torso. "What-..."

"She was still too close when the blast went off. The shards cut her up but something must have hit her side. I barely caught her free falling before she hit the ground." Tony's eyes shifted and Steve followed to see the medical team with a gurney. He set her down on it gently before the team went to work. They were moving, Steve with them and calling out the damages. A nurse was trying to get her heart rate as another pumped her arm. This seemed to wake Wanda up as her eyes fluttered open just before they got to the surgical room. Wanda screamed at the top of her lungs. The pain was unbearable. Steve watched medical staff dodge red bursts of energy as Wanda thrashed and cried out in bed.

"Get her down!" One of them called out but as a nurse tried to approach Wanda with a needle, a hex sent her dropping to the ground. Steve ran over to her, trying to hold her down. Wanda's face was full of tears and she screamed and cried out. The nurse was able to approach and stuck the needle into Wanda's arm. Wanda continued for another fifteen seconds before she went under again. "Let's get to work!" The staff rushed Wanda in as Steve covered his mouth and let out a deep breath.

Two hours later, there was no update on Wanda. She was still in critical condition and the medical team had told him she'd be in surgery for another nine hours. He had sat there in the hallway outside the door on the off chance anything happened.

"Steve…" He looked up to see Rhodes walking over. The colonel sat down beside him. "You need to go get some rest. They know to alert you if anything happens."

"I can't." He sighed and ran a hand through his hair. "This is my fault, Rhodey."

"No, it's not."

"I took my eyes off the device. I left it unguarded and now she's in that room paying for my mistake."

"You did your best. We all did. None of us knew what that thing was. She made the decision to take it up."

"What if…"

"She's strong. She's made it through some bad stuff already. This won't stop her." Steve looked over at him.

"I know you care a lot about our team so that's why I'm asking you to go take care of yourself and get some rest. They'll come get you." After a long pause, Steve finally nodded and went to a temporary room they had set up. He laid down on his cot, thoughts of Wanda plaguing his mind. With some luck, he was able to force himself to get some sleep.

Four hours was all he needed to regroup and he was back by Wanda. Local agents brought him a tablet and messages sent through by Maria. SHIELD agents had infiltrated the area, arresting men and taking weapons for examination. He continued his work until the sound of opening doors made him look up.

"Captain Rogers, she's out of surgery." He put his tablet down and got up to walk over to her. She took him towards the edge of the hallway as they wheeled her out. He barely caught a glimpse of her before she was gone. "She will be alright but she's going to need time to heal." The heavy pull on his heart lifted. "We've repaired what we can. She's going to need to take it easy for at least the next 4-5 weeks. That means no missions, minimal mobility. Her body made it through a pretty traumatic injury and needs time."

"Understood. Thank you, doctor." The woman nodded to him.

"She's being prepped for the quinjet to fly you all back to New York. Some of our staff will accompany you to monitor her and get the doctors there up to speed."

"I appreciate it." She nodded to him once again and made her way back into the surgical room. He let out a deep breath of relief. She was okay.

It wasn't long before they were boarding the quinjet to go home. Stark and Rhodes had taken off already in their suits and Natasha was staying to scout the church with the other agents. When Steve got on the plane, Sam was lying on one of the chairs that had been set to lie flat.

"Sam?" he asked as he walked over to him.

"Steve!" The man smiled dazedly. They must have given him some strong medication.

"Get some rest, man." Steve smiled and made his way to the back where they were wheeling Wanda up. She looked so pale and frail on the gurney, a sight he didn't like. They kept her in an induced coma for the flight back. He sat next to her the entire trip.

When they arrived, the New York medical team took her vitals and cleared her to go to her quarters. Two nurses, and Steve in tow, took her through the facility and up to her bedroom. After giving him explicit instructions on her care, he lifted her off the gurney and set her down on her bed. The nurses excused themselves and left with the gurney in tow. Steve pulled the sheets up to cover her and she began to stir. Her tired eyes blinked open and she tried to focus.

"Wanda?" Her eyes wandered over to him and they finally began to clear.

"Steve?" Her voice was dry and raspy. Her whole body felt weird and numb. "What happened?"

"You got hurt." She made a noise when she tried to move. "You shouldn't be moving."

"Is it bad?" There was worry in her voice but she was losing the battle to stay conscious. He swept a lock of hair behind her ear.

"You're going to be fine." He heard deep breaths and thought she had fallen asleep for a moment.

"Will you stay with me?"