A/N: Hi? I know, I know. I suck (and that's an understatement) at keeping promises. Thing is, my laptop has given up the ghost and I am writing this now with my father's laptop and he doesn't know that I write these kind of stuff. I'm doing covert writing here people, and I nearly want to just forget about this fanfic and abandon it but I just couldn't. That's the pull you guys have on me.
Anyways, here it is, and yes, again I am playing with science and fantasy a bit with the medical procedures. I accept corrections for the medical jargon and terms I use here, so if you have something to correct, feel free to tell me :) I also kind of want to tie this in with Age of Ultron but I don't know if I should. Sorry for the long A/N :( Hope you enjoy this one!
The quinjet arrived at the Avengers Tower an hour later. Together with Clint, Steve carefully pushed the bed carrying Natasha to the medbay while Tony and Bruce immediately went first to prepare the area for Natasha's arrival. The place looked state-of-the-art but that was the default setting for anything Tony owns, except perhaps for the small indoor garden Tony grew (or at the very least tried to). If it wasn't for Pepper tending to the plants, it would have been a barren landscape right now. It wasn't pretty but Tony was strangely obsessed with it.
The room was lined with the various latest medical instruments and machines, with JARVIS controlling everyone of them. Near the west wall there were six beds large enough to accommodate even Thor who was the largest of them all, Steve being a close second. At the center of the room, however, was a large surgical bed where Clint cautiously transferred Natasha from the gurney. Steve set about helping Tony and Bruce with whatever he could help with but it turned out that the Science Bros were as ready as they could ever be to piece together Black Widow as best as they could.
"JARVIS? Any updates on Dr. Cho's location?" Banner asked the AI harriedly.
"She is still half an hour out, sir. I have managed to notify her earlier than you asked me to, and she is currently now entering the United States airspace." The AI responded calmly, but with an undertone of something akin to worry. Steve had often wondered if Tony had intentionally made the AI to act more human-like than the inventor would like to admit but Stark always denied it.
"Well, keep us updated J. Meanwhile, why don't you contact Agent Hill and Fury?" Stark said.
"Already done, sir. And might I suggest that we prepare Dr. Banner's laboratory for Dr. Cho's arrival?" The AI responded.
"Do what you can JARVIS. Please." This time it was Steve who answered the AI. "It would be my greatest pleasure, Captain. I do hope that Agent Romanoff would recover most speedily from this." After JARVIS said that, Clint's phone lit up with a text from Agent Hill saying that they were nearing the Tower. Clint picked his phone up and eased away from the frantic actions of Banner and Stark trying to save Nat. Steve was off to the side, hands tightly clenched and jaw so hard it looked like stone.
Clint dialed Agent Hill's number and waited for her to pick up.
"Agent Barton." The steely voice of the female agent greeted him.
"Agen- Agent Hill." He started to say then cleared his throat, desperately trying to speak around the lump in his throat.
"How bad is it?" This time, it was Director Fury's dark voice that permeated through his phone.
"Sir, it's ... bad." Clint didn't see any reason to sugarcoat it.
A silence followed his words, then Fury commanded, "We'll be there. Keep Rogers from doing anything irresponsible. Keeping him in one piece and sane is the least thing we could do for Romanoff."
"Copy that." Clint responded then he turned off his phone. He looked back at the horrible sight happening before him. Natasha so ... mutilated. Even when the worst of their missions happened, Natasha always managed to get off pretty much unscathed.
A bullet here, a slash there. A bruise here, a sprain there.
But never this.
She also saved Clint's life too many times to count and he was ever grateful for that, and it tears him apart that he couldn't extend any help to her right now when she needed him most. No. It wasn't him that Natasha needed. It was him. Steve. Captain fucking America. And he let her down so tragically. Her and Steve's own child. If only he was around eight, nine months ago and wasn't in some deep-shit undercover work for SHIELD, he might have protected Natasha where Captain America didn't.
As it was, he couldn't turn back time, and he stalked out of the medbay, little tendrils of rage and hate weaving his heart tighter. He couldn't stand another minute looking at Steve looking worried for Natasha's safety and ready to kill the one who did it to her.
That fucking hypocrite.
Rogers should just kill himself.
Steve was rooted to the spot.
He couldn't move even if he wanted to. He already left Nat once, and he wasn't eager to do it again.
Blood were seeping through the floor from Natasha's wounds; Stark trying to clean up the mess with towels. Steve clenched his hands and gritted his teeth so hard that he could almost feel them breaking. He welcomed the pain because it was a fitting distraction from the numbness but at the same time rage he felt whenever he saw Natasha's broken form. Captain America has killed people, yes. but he never enjoyed it. However, Steve is positive that not only would he draw out the bastard's death who did this to Natasha, he would downright enjoy it. It was so uncharacteristic of him but at that moment he really didn't care. Right now, he could only watch as Banner and Tony tried to save her. He knew that it would probably be best if he got out of their way but he was terrified of losing sight of her. And their child.
"Tony, you need to recast her leg properly and have JARVIS scan her fully so we could assess the worst damage first. Have the crash cart ready; BP and her vitals might be dropping soon. Call Dr. Cho and tell her that we might need her earlier than I would care to admit." Bruce fired off.
"You got that, J?" Stark asked his servant while setting the bone in her right leg.
"Full body scan and analysis, commencing,"
Natasha, as deeply sedated as she was, moaned softly when her leg was moved again. "Easy there, Red. I'm just trying to get your leg into place, that's all. No need to get so worked up." Tony weakly joked. It fell on deaf ears though, because Natasha became still once again.
"Sir, I have found four broken ribs on the right ribcage, another two on the left ribcage with one of them shattered. Currently, as we are speaking, bone shards are penetrating Ms. Romanoff's left lung. Added to that, she sustained a quite severe head trauma, several knife slashes with the worse areas centered on her legs and chest, a broken right leg and patella, perforated spleen and liver and excised fingernails and beds." JARVIS reported.
"And the child?" Steve asked hoarsely. That also made him snap out of any trance he got himself into and though with shaky knees, he managed to walk to the wall adjacent to the operating table. "Is ... Is the baby okay?"
Jarvis was uncannily silent.
"JARVIS?" Steve addressed the thin air.
"I believe that you should calm down, Captain Rogers. I am monitoring an increased heart rate from you."
"JARVIS. Answer me. Please."
"Steve, it's probably better if you get out of the medbay for a while, maybe follow Clint?" Banner said softly.
"No, I'll stay here. Can't leave her." There was a shortness of breath that Steve hadn't experienced ever since he underwent Project: Rebirth.
"Rogers." A hard voice sounded out inside the room.
Steve looked up and saw Fury entering the medbay. Tagging along him was Agent Hill. And Dr. Helen Cho, who hurriedly went to Natasha's side. Thank God.
"Maybe you should heed Dr. Banner's advice and get out of this room for a short while, Captain." Fury said. "That's an order."
"No. I can't. I can't leave her, Fury. Not again! Not this time!" Steve was getting worked up and as he did, his voice rose.
"We should probably use our indoor voices here, Cap." Fury admonished gently. "Listen to me. You've been without sleep for 72 hours right now, and I get that you are worried about Romanoff. Believe me, I am too, but it doesn't help her situation right now if we also have to deal with a frenzied Steve Rogers! You need to step aside."
That last sentence was the one who did it. Maybe Fury shouldn't have uttered it, especially to Captain America, but Steve going near insane wouldn't be conducive to Natasha's case right now.
"STEP ASIDE?! I've done that nine months ago and look where that got the woman I love! On an operating table, pregnant and barely alive! So don't you dare tell me to step aside, not when it comes to HER!"
He couldn't believe it. Fury was telling him to do the one thing he promised himself never to do to Natasha. He couldn't leave her. Not now, nor ever. Fury needed to understand that.
A keening noise from one of the machines hooked to Natasha drew everyone's attention.
Banner, Tony and Helen immediately shared measured gazes, but underneath that, there were panic in their eyes.
"Banner's lab. Right now." Dr. Cho told them forcefully.
Wheeling the bed Natasha was on, they immediately exited the medbay followed by Fury, Hill, and Rogers and went down the corridor then turned left. A sliding glass door opened for them and they were in Banner's lab in no time.
"What's happening?" Agent Hill asked Tony.
"She's going into shock. Time's against us. If we can't get her out of shock…" Tony trailed off but Hill understood. She looked back at Steve who looked pale and suddenly wan under the fluorescent lights. How did we get here?
The three doctors worked feverishly to make Natasha's vitals stable. Professional opinions were tossed around, all the while hands were working to piece her together. All the while bile was churning in Steve's gut.
"We could put her under the machine and have it knit the knife wounds and anything else that could be healed so it would lessen the pain…"
"Anaesthetics don't work.. Her blood's got something and we couldn't risk the child."
"We don't have enough time!"
Their words were swirling around Steve's mind, chasing each other like a pack of rabid dogs. He knew that they knew the best for Natasha but they were wasting precious time in arguing. In a miraculously strong voice, he made his suggestion known.
"You could deliver the child. Maybe then you can fi-fix her."
The three doctors shared a look; one that was one part consideration and another dubious. It was also tinged with something suspiciously like pity but he couldn't figure out why it was present.
Pity? Something's not adding up.
It was Dr. Helen Cho who answered.
"Captain Rogers, we, uhh, we have reason to believe that there is no longer a child. Alive, that is."
Yes. I'm sorry for the cliffhanger but I happen to like those. You know the drill. Read and Review! :)
*thanks for lolsmileyface6 for pointing out that I downloaded the wrong document :)