Tony woke up in a haze of pain, not knowing where he was or what had happened.
To be perfectly honest though, he was strangely used to waking up in various amounts of pain in an unfamiliar environment.
Tony tried to open his eyes but his eyelids felt like metal and it took all his effort just to pry them open. When he finally did, the light was blinding and did nothing but contribute to another wave of pain that rolled over his entire body. He shut his eyes again as quickly as he could to try and dull the feeling.
"Tony...Tony wake up..."
He heard his voice being said by someone, but he couldn't tell whom. It was too foggy, the throbbing in his head too loud.
Finally, He forced his eyes open only to have the pain increase once more.
He was on a bed in a white room that was way too bright for his obviously concussed brain. The bed was soft and warm and beckoned at him to go back to sleep. Tony's entire body ached to the bone, but his abdomen ached the most.
When he finally came to his senses enough to know vaguely what was going on around him, he noticed Steve standing over him with a somewhat relieved look on his face.
Tony noticed the bags under his eyes, which made it look like he hadn't slept in a while.
"Tony, thank god. You scared us."
He tried clearing his throat but it still took effort to speak. "Oh come on Cap...you know me". His voice sounded raspy and unused.
He turned his head to the right and noticed a glass of water. He tried to reach for it but winced when a sharp pain shot through his body. Steve seemed to get the idea and reached over to grab the water for him and proceeding to help him take a small sip from a straw.
As he sipped the water, the memories finally came back to him. Both Bruce and himself had been in a bad car crash. He remembered vaguely the pole that was lodged in his abdomen briefly and realized that was probably the reason why that area hurt the most out of his entire body.
"How long...has it been?" he asked.
"3 days. You went through emergency surgery to fix the internal bleeding. And you have a bad concussion."
He tried to nod by stopped when it just exacerbated the pain in his head. As he remembered what had happened to Bruce, he turned his head to the right as gently as he could.
Just as he expected, Bruce was lying on a bed next to his. His face looked gaunt and pale and he had gauze wrapped around his head. Both, one arm and one leg were enclosed with a cast. Tony's eyebrows furrowed at the strange sight. He remembered Bruce telling him multiple times that the hulk allowed him to heal almost in a day or two from any ailments such as broken bones or other minor injuries. To see him still unconscious after three days and not healing at all scared Tony to say the least.
"He hasn't woken up yet. He should have by now…" Steve trailed off and Tony could sense worry in his tone. "Doctors say he has a fractured skull and a broken arm and leg."
Tony hummed in response still a little bit miffed about the fact that Bruce wasn't healing. He tried to put his brain to work and find out why he still hadn't woken up but it was like walking through quicksand - he just couldn't think straight. The exhaustion he was feeling, evidently due to pain meds, was too strong and he felt his eyelids begin to droop.
"Sleep. Bruce will be fine." He heard the caps words as if they were coming through a long tunnel. Before he realized it, he had once again sunk into the sheets and into darkness.
The next time he woke up, he couldn't tell how long it had been and there was no one on the room with him. The lights were off and that disoriented him for a few moments.
The pounding through his head and the aching feeling had gotten better just a fraction from when he had first woken up.
His eyes searched the darkness for any clue that someone was there, but he found nothing. As he turned his head to the left, he saw the dark outline of Bruce and noticed that he still had not woken up. Tony's worry for him was increasing with every passing moment. Something wasn't right and he was inclined to figure out what. Slowly and carefully, trying not to rip his bandages, he sat up in his bed. The little movement made the pain increase tenfold and as soon as he did it, he knew it had been a bad idea. But he wanted to get up, stretch his legs a bit, and maybe find out where the hell they were. He had a suspicion that they were at one of shields headquarters but he decided to get more information.
Again, Tony tried to swing his legs over the side of the bed. Gingerly, he placed his feet on the cold ground and a shiver went up his spine. With as much gentleness as Tony could muster, he slid off the bed and slowly put pressure on his feet. The hands that were supporting him by using the bed let go when he thought he was ready. But as soon as he put full pressure on his feet, he knew it was a bad idea. He sunk to the ground in no graceful manner and pain shot up his abdomen that was so great he had to scrunch his eyes shut. He almost groaned out in pain but stopped himself.
A few seconds later and he felt hands grab at him and help him up. He opened his eyes finally and realized that it was a nurse dressed in blue scrubs. The movement did nothing to lesson the pain.
Goddamn I'm an idiot.
As the nurse put him on the bed, he felt the pain start to become so great that black spots danced in his vision.
Once again, he sank back into blissful sleep
The third time he woke up, he could immediately tell it was daylight.
This time, the lights were on and there was someone standing in the room that he immediately recognized as Clint.
"Wow, you're finally awake huh." He said quietly. "Took you long enough."
"Whatever birdbrain." Tony rasped out. He noticed he had on a fresh bandage around his wound and the pounding in his head had gone down a bit, but the room would still spin if he made an action too suddenly.
He took a second to survey the room again. He noticed things he never noticed before. There was a window across the room from him that made it look less like a jail and more like a hospital. He didn't think that was much better. He hated hospitals.
"We're at SHIELD aren't we."
"Yup." Clint shifted his feet. "One of the headquarters in the outskirts of New York. We took you guys here as fast as we could."
He pondered the thought for a second but was interrupted when he heard a soft groan. He turned his head to the side and in the other bed, he saw Bruce finally shift in his sleep.
Bruce's eyes scrunched up tightly with what Tony assumed to be pain, and his body went rigid. Clint moved over to Bruce's bed quickly. The steady beep of the heart monitor was starting to climb and Tony remembered how much Bruce hated hospital rooms.
"Bruce, come on wake up man."
Finally, after what felt like an eternity, Bruce opened his eyes. A wild feral look suddenly over took his expression and he sat up quickly. A pained groan escaped his mouth as he did so and Clint gently pushed him back into the bed.
At that point Bruce seemed to give up any thoughts of escape and lay on his bed not moving any more, his eyes surveying the room. "What…happened?" his voice was raspy and as unused as Tony's had been.
"The crash, you remember right?" Tony questioned, his eyebrows furrowed in worry.
Bruce glanced over at him as if first realizing he was there.
"You have a fractured skull. And a broken arm and leg if you can't already tell." Clint stated.
Confusion spread over Bruce's expression. "Injuries? But….I should be healed by now. How long has it been?"
"You've been unconscious for about five days now." Clint's voice was without emotion.
"Five days but-"
Bruce abruptly stopped talking. "What…" Tony asked slowly.
"I can't feel him."
"Can't feel who?"
Tony was aching to get up and look at Bruce face to face and try to figure out was wrong but for some reason, he had a vague idea of what Bruce was about to say next.
"The Hulk. I can't feel the Hulk in my subconscious. It's like he's….gone."
Yes, I know its a cliffhanger I am so sorry.
But don't worry, Bruce isn't going to be hulkless forever, I have ideas about how he might get the other guy back so don't freak out. I just don't want to spoil anything.
So, tell me how I did, reviews help me out a lot!
