Chapter 5
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AN2: Thank you for your response to the previous chapter it means a lot.
"Hey, Uncle Bruce." Skye tells him.
"What happened?" He asks worried as he knows enough to know that something bad must have happened for her to come to him and judging by the way she looks his best guess is that she is hurt.
"I found myself on the wrong end of a Hydra Agent's bullet." Skye explains.
"Sit on the table and show me." Bruce requests as he goes to collect what he needs for a minor gunshot wound assuming that it isn't a serious wound otherwise she wouldn't be able to stand right now.
Waking across the room Skye takes off her jacket and bag and places both of them on a chair and once she Is sitting on the table she removes her tank top so that she is sitting in in a bra and pants and she starts to attempt to remove the bandages.
"Here, let me." Bruce says removing the bandages for her, "Crap Skye! How were you able to stand?" Bruce asks shocked when he has removed the last of the bandages and he sees just how bad the wound is. "And when was the last time you ate?" He asks concerned as Skye is so thin that you can easily see several of her ribs.
"I short-circuited my pain receptors, it was the only way I could make the ten hour trip here, and of course I made things worse by doing that." Skye admits and she completely avoids his second question.
"Ten hours, Greece?" Bruce asks as he inspects the wound trying to work out where she was, realising that she avoided his second question he makes a note to talk to her about it another time.
"Yeah." Skye answers.
"Couldn't you have gotten help somewhere else? Somewhere closer? This is bad Skye. I'm guessing the only reason you are semi okay right now is because of your powers." Bruce says a frown clear on his face.
"You're the only person on the continent I can trust Uncle Bruce, I had to get to you no matter how far away you were." Skye tells her Uncle.
"You need surgery Skye, this is a bad wound." Bruce tells her, "I'm guessing you won't let me send you to a proper trauma centre." Bruce comments.
"It's too risky, you've got to do it here." Skye tells him.
"I'm not a surgeon Skye." Bruce tells her.
"I don't care that you are not a surgeon, I trust you and that's good enough for me" She tells him.
"Skye you're at massive risk at infection already, if I operate here then there is an even bigger risk, not to mention all the other possible complications." He tells her, Bruce not trusting himself to operate on his niece, here off all places.
"I was shot ten hours ago Uncle Bruce, and there is only so much my power can do, you know what is going to happen in the next few hours. I believe in you Uncle Bruce. I know you can do this. I need you to do this." Skye tells her Uncle.
"Okay, there is a makeshift OR in the other room, we'll do it there." He tells her, "Everything else is through their except for sedation and other meds." Bruce tells her as he helps her down from the table.
"I don't need sedation, it's not like I can feel anything." Skye tells her Uncle.
"You're being sedated." Bruce tells her, "I'm the one operating, it's my call." He tells her as they walk into the operating room, "And I've got to call your parents." He tells her, making it clear that there is going to be no argument on his last point.
"I know." Skye responds, "Uncle Bruce." Skye says her voice showing fear for the first time since she walked in, "it's bad isn't it?" she asks as even though she knows she need the confirmation.
"Yeah, yeah it is." Bruce responds as he helps her onto the table in operating room, "I'll be right back." He tells her.
When Bruce returns several minutes later he has a tray of things which he puts on the bench next to the table Skye is lying on.
"Your blood type is A positive, correct?" Bruce checks, wanting to be completely sure.
"Yeah." Skye responds.
"Good, we got a red cross blood delivery earlier today so I can give you some blood." Bruce tells Skye and she doesn't say anything like he was expecting her too, "Skye?" he asks worried and he notices that she is unconscious so he rushes over to her and checks her pulse, "Damn it Skye." He says a trace of the Hulk showing itself for a second because Skye is someone he truly cares about and she is dying and he is the only one who can save her and he isn't sure that he can.
Working as quick as possible Bruce scrubs before hooking up blood and fluids to Skye and getting everything else he needs in place.
Twenty five minutes later Bruce has gotten everything he needs in place and he is inspecting the damage done by the bullet as he searches for the actual bullet as he knows he can't do anything until he finds it. After a bit of searching Bruce finds the bullet lodged in Skye's kidney.
"You really don't do things by halves." Bruce comments as he start to repair the damage that the bullet has done.
Bruce has repaired the damage to the kidney and is working on repairing the damage done to the other organs when the machines monitoring Skye, which were gift's to the clinic from Tony, start to beep indicating that Skye's heat rate has dropped
"Come on Skye, hold on." Bruce says as he speeds up his pace of attempting to look for and fix the damage. He has just fixed a nic to Skye's spleen when the machine beeps again to indicate that she has stop breathing.
"No." Bruce says pulling his hands and instruments out of Skye so that he can start CPR.
When Skye opens her eyes the last thing she can remember is laying down on the operating table, but the second that she does she knows that something isn't right and not just because four people she knows to be dead are standing around her,
"Am I dead?" Skye asks sitting up, to see a bright white, clean room with Miles, Jessica, Lisa and Emma standing around her, looking just like she remembered them to look when they were alive.
"No." Miles answers, "But you're heart has stopped beating." He tells her.
"Then I am dead." Skye responds.
"No, you're not." Lisa tells her, "The energy you have inside of you, the power, is protecting your organs, keeping them from dying, but it can't keep that up forever, you don't have long." She explains.
"Long for what?" Skye asks confused.
"To decide to live." Jessica tells her.
"What? Of course I want to live." Skye says, honestly not sure who she is trying to convince.
"You can't like to us Skye, we know everything about you." Emma tells her.
"Creepy." Skye comments jumping down from the table and looking down to see her wound is gone.
"And being around four dead friends isn't?" Miles asks.
"Good point." Skye admits, "So what is this place, limbo?" Skye asks trying to distract them from the other point.
"Skye, you need to talk to us, you don't have long to make your choice." Jessica says taking charge just like all the times she did when she was alive.
"What do you want me to say?" Skye asks, "That for a second I remembered what Dad said death was like and I wondered if it would be a bad thing? Because at least then everyone I love will be okay? That then no one else would die because of me?" Skye asks her voice becoming angry and upset at the same time, "Because I did, I've got so much death on my hands and it hurts, and it crushes me and I don't want anymore." Skye says, "I got you killed." Skye says looking at Miles, "And I know I couldn't handle getting anyone else I love killed too, so yeah for a second I wondered what if?" Skye explains.
"I don't blame you Skye." Miles tells her.
"What? How can you not? Lard killed you because of me." Skye tells Miles.
"Lard killed me because he was a psychopath. If Quinn didn't kill him he was going to kill so many people and that would have had nothing to do with you." Miles tells Skye walking over to her, "It was my time to die, but this isn't yours." He tells her.
"You've still got so much more to do." Emma tells her, "You've been a fighter your whole life Skye. You've fought for everything, you've fought for everyone else, and you've fought to survive to keep going, don't give up now."
"What if I'm tired of fighting? All I want is for the people I love, my family, to be safe and okay and honestly, and if this is the way to be sure of that, then fine." Skye tells them.
"They won't be okay if you die." Lisa tells her, "None of them will. You gave your Mom back the part of herself she lost a long time ago. You repaired your Dad's faith. Gave Clint someone who understands him more than anyone else can and allowed him to be the carer that he is again. You showed Natasha that love isn't just for children, and you broke down the walls that Fitz and Simmons didn't even realise they had up." Lisa explains, "And thanks to you Tony, Pepper, Steve, Bruce, Nick, Maria, Garrett and Tripp are a part of a real, loving family for the first time in a long time." She tells Skye, "If you give up they will lose all that, it will break them. I know that you want to protect them but this isn't the way." Lisa tells her, "Trust me." She adds.
"To you regret it, what you did?" Skye asks looking directly at Lisa.
"I regrated it the second I finished swallowing the pills, but I was already too weak to do something about it." Lisa tells Skye, "I know you want to protect them but this isn't the way, and staying away from them isn't either, in fact it's doing the opposite, you're putting them in more danger." Lisa tells her.
"What do you mean?" Skye asks confused.
"Skye you have power, and I'm not just talking about your abilities." Jessica tells her, "If you decided to live you're going to eventually see just what power you have and just what you're capable of." She explains, "But Skye, with what you're capable of doing you can do more to protect your family by being with them." Jessica tells her, "By staying away the only thing that you are doing is hurting both them and yourself, I get that you want to protect them but the best way for you to do that is by being with them."
"Skye you've finally gotten what you've always wanted, don't give up on it now." Lisa tells her.
"You wanted to find your family, now you have, go back to them." Miles tells her.
"How do I do that?" Skye asks.
"Lay back down, and focus on how much you want to live." Emma tells her.
Without a word Skye walks over to her four friends and hugs them all at once, "I miss you all soo much, I think about you every day." Skye tells them.
"We miss you too." Jessica tells her, "And we don't want to see you again for a really long time, you got that?" Jessica asks.
"Yeah, I got that." Skye responds and she walks back over to the table that she woke up on and as she lays down and closes her eyes she focuses on the soul thought of how much she wants to live so that she can be with her family again.
It has been three minutes since Skye's heart stopped beating and Bruce is continuing to try and get it to beat again, determine not to give up on her.
"Come on Skye, don't do this, come on Fight." Bruce says as he continues with CPR and gives her more epinephrine, his doctor side is telling him that the longer her heart stops beating the less likely it is to start again but her Uncle side is telling him that he can't give up, not on her, "Come on Skye." He says and then all a sudden Skye's body jumps almost like it has been given a shock from defilation, but it hasn't, and Skye's heart starts beating again and her vital signs increase, "Guess you weren't ready to give up either." Bruce comments assuming that the energy inside Skye took it upon itself to bring her back, "I'm almost done, just hold on until I am." Bruce says and he goes back to repairing the damage that the bullet did, "Just hold on, I won't be too much longer." Bruce comments to Skye.
Forty minutes later Bruce has repaired all the damage that was done to Skye. Thankfully Skye's vitals remained stable for the entire time that Bruce worked on her. Once he finishes the surgery Bruce washes himself up then once he is sure that Skye is stable he walks into the other room and grabs his sat phone and calls the one number programed into the phone, knowing that the persons who number it is the best person to call considering everything.
"Hello?" Tony's voice asks.
"Tony answer with one word, are Coulson, Melinda, Natasha and Clint in hearing range right now?" Bruce asks as he knows that, Tony's poker face, while brilliant at times isn't going to be when he finds out what happened.
"Yes, why?" Tony asks.
"Leave the room, I need to tell you something, but they until you know everything they can't see you react." Bruce explains to Tony as he walks back into the room where Skye is lying unconscious.
Trusting his friend Tony gets up and excuses himself from the lounge room where everyone is sitting and watching a movie.
"What the hell happened?" Tony asks once he is in the kitchen and away from where everyone else can hear him.
"Two and a half hours ago Skye showed up at the clinic, she said she got on the wrong side of a Hydra Agent's bullet." Bruce explains.
"There is a right side of a bullet?" Tony asks trying to make a joke thought the worry in his voice is clear.
"Tony, It's bad." Bruce tells him, "She was shot in the side and the bullet did quite a bit of damage, which would have been bad enough, but she short-circuited her pain receptors so that she could travel ten hours to get to me, making everything so much worse." He explains, "Her heart stopped for three minutes during surgery and she is at huge risk for infection, I need you to arrange a medical evac with people you trust, she needs to get to a proper facility." Bruce explains and there is only silence on the other end, "Tony?" Bruce asks concerned a minute later.
"What are her chances?" Tony finally manages to ask.
"She's stable and I've repaired the damage that was done by the bullet, but I don't know what damage was done when her heart stopped beating, and that along with the very high chance of infection is what I am worried about." Bruce explains.
"Bruce, will she be okay?" Tony asks again.
"I don't know." Bruce answers truthfully, "Surgery isn't my area of expertise and I told her that but she said that she believes in me and that I was the only one who can." Bruce explains.
"We'll be there in ten hour with the Bus." Tony tells him, "With everything that has happened it is the aircraft with the most suitable medical facilities we've got." He tells his friend.
"What about the governments?" Bruce asks.
"Maria, Tripp and Garrett can play deco." Tony tells him.
"Do you want me to talk to Melinda and Phil?" Bruce asks.
"No, I'll do it." Tony tells him, "Keep the phone on you I'll call soon." Tony says before hanging up.
Once he has hung up with Bruce Tony takes a deep breath and prepares himself for what he has to now do.
"Tony, who was it?" Pepper asks when he walks back into the room as she knows it's odd for him to take a call in another room.
"It was Bruce." Tony answers, "He was calling about Skye." He says looking over to Coulson, Melinda, Natasha and Clint who, like is normal for them, are sitting together.
"What happened? Is she okay?" Melinda asks the worry in her voice clear.
"Skye was shot by a Hydra agent." Tony says and there are gasps from the directors of Fitz, Simmons and Tripp, "and she short circuited her pain receptors so that she could travel for ten hours to Bruce which made the wound worse." Tony says and he takes a deep breath before he says, anymore and as he does he realises that Coulson, Melinda, Natasha and Clint are all watching him carefully, like they know that what he has to tell them is bad, "Her heart stopped beating during surgery and Bruce is very worried about infection, but the good news is that she is currently stable." Tony tells them all.
"Where are they?" Natasha asks being the first one to speak.
"Serbia." Tony answers, "I told Bruce that we would be there in ten hours with the bus so that we can get her out of there." He explains.
"I'll arrange a diversion." Maria says just like Tony was expecting her to, "Melinda? Phil?" she says worried when she notices that neither of her friends have said anything.
"They along with Barton, Fitz, Simmons, and Romanoff left as soon as you said where Skye was." Tripp explains.
"We need a diversion for them, now." Pepper says.
"I know." Maria says, "John, Antoine, with me." She says standing up, "Tony, Pepper handed things on this end." Maria says and she leaves the room, Tripp and Garrett right behind her.
"Tony, what did Bruce says her chances were?" Pepper asks worried.
"He didn't say." Tony answers, "But from the way he was taking, I don't think they are good." Tony comments.
Having all gotten into one of Tony's car that sits more than five people Natasha, who was driving, broke several road rules to get the group to the place that the bus is parked in the quickest time possible.
"Nat and I will get us in the air." Clint says and it's a testament to how worried Melinda is about her daughter that she doesn't even object.
"Fitz and I will get medical ready." Simmons says and she and Fitz head to the lab.
Because they know each other so well and have known each other so long Melinda and Coulson don't need words to say that they both want. So once Fitz and Simmons are in the lab Coulson and Melinda head up to Coulson's office as the thing that they both want at the current point in time is privacy.
As soon as they are in Coulson's office and the door is closed Coulson pulls Melinda into his arms and they just stand in silence, both of them with silent tears rolling down their face as they both want one thing, for their daughter to be okay and it breaks their heart to know that at the moment she is so close to death.
In the cockpit Natasha and Clint are both sitting in silence just focusing on getting the plane in the air, neither of them are allowing themselves to admit how worried about their niece they actually are. When Natasha looks at her partner sideways she notices that there are tears welled in his eyes and she reaches over and gives his shoulder as squeeze, her way of telling him that he is not alone.
Once he hung up the phone with Tony and finished putting away a few things that were in the way, Bruce pulled the chair that Skye put her bag on into the room and after moving the bag off of it he sits down as close to his niece that he can and just watches, his focus being divided by two things, Skye herself and the machines that are monitoring her.
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