Steve finds you in the gym. "Bruce told you you needed to stay off your feet," Steve sounds stern, "You should be in a hospital bed."
"I'm fine," You pant, hitting the punching bag, "It's been a week, the stitches are out-"
"But the internal damage-" You turn around, cupping his face with your hands.
"I'm fine Steve," You tell him firmly, "Go back to bed." He doesn't move and you give him a tight lipped smile, "Go back to bed, I'll be up in a minute."
"Okay."
You cross the room to one of the benches and sit down heavily. You pull up your athletic shorts and wince at the blood pooled beneath them. You pour water from your water bottle on the reopened wound and wipe away all of the evidence with one of the gym towels before Steve can see it.
You're doing your best to be patient with him; you knew he felt helpless regarding the current state of affairs so he had been devoting all of his energy to your recovery. What he didn't understand is that you couldn't sit still. Every particle of your being was constantly screaming at you to do something.
With a sigh you head over to the laundry bin, pick up a handful of soiled towels and then deposit your own bloody one underneath, hidden from view.
Steve's in bed waiting for you and he lifts the covers as you approach. Wordlessly you crawl in, settling your body against his in the dark.
"Bruce," You're on your feet without even realizing it, "It stopped."
"What?"
"The thing-whatever it is, it stopped," Bruce rubs his hands together as he comes over, double checking your words, "Is that good or bad?"
"I don't know," Bruce frowns. "We better get Steve."
Steve and Natasha are staring at a screen as the death counts from Thanos' attack are tallied per country, their faces both drawn and tired.
"Hey guys," Bruce says gently, "So, that thing just stopped doing whatever the hell it was doing." Natasha and Steve share a look, and then follow you and Bruce back into the lab. "Whatever signal it was sending out finally crapped," Bruce continues.
"I thought we bypassed the battery?" Steve frowns.
"We did," Rhodey confirms, "It's still plugged in… It just stopped."
"Reboot it," Steve says, "Send the signal again."
"Yeah, but we don't even know what this is," Bruce interjects.
"It could be nothing," You add, "We have no idea what Fury was trying to do with this thing."
"Just do it please," Natasha says, "And tell me the second you get a signal. I want to know who's on the other end of that thing."
"I'll tell you who's on the other end of that thing," You snap, "Just another one of the people Thanos vaporized." Natasha recoils and you regret your words, "I'm sorry," You say more gently, "I just don't think we should keep wasting our time on what's barely a 50% chance. We need to figure out a plan, we can't just keep waiting around."
"Thanos came from space," Rhodey reminds you, "So unless you have some kind of idea where he is and a secret rocket ship, we're screwed."
"You know what Rhodey? I am so tired of your-" Something in the air shifts and you whirl around reflexively; a woman stands in the doorway behind you dressed in a bizarre metallic outfit. Your hand goes to your hip holster and just meets the fabric of your sweatpants.
Her eyes track the movement of your head before the woman cocks her head, "Where is Fury?"
The woman it turns out is Carol Danvers, originally from Earth, got too close to an Infinity Stone, and now flies around outer space. You listen to her relay the recent events from her side of things, and then Steve launches into a play by play of what had happened here on Earth.
"Rocket still has friends we think are out there," Steve tells her finally, "Their ship is moving, albeit slowly, but we do have a signal we're picking up on. We just don't have the resources to get there."
"I'll get them," Danvers says, rising to her feet. She looks like the type that can't stay still for long. You empathize; you'd do almost anything to feel like you were moving in a forward direction again. "Look for my return."
"Well that was a waste of time," You slump back in your chair as she leaves, "Unless one of your friends knows where the hell Thanos is?" You direct the last part to the raccoon who glares back at you, arms crossed.
"Well Gamora was with them," He says, "And she's his stepdaughter, so I thought, hey, maybe she might know where her pops would go after single handedly destroying the universe!" He shouts the last word at you and you hop to your feet.
"You little mangy-"
"(Y/n)," Steve sighs, sitting down, "Cut it out, all right? We need to stay focused here. Let's say this Gamora does know where we can find Thanos, we still need a plan of attack."