Chapter 11
By: MysticFantasy
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"He's starting to come out of deep sleep." Bruce announced as he checked the monitors. The other five in the room had their eyes on Steve. Sure to Bruce's words, Steve started to move a little.
It was just his fingers moving a little but that was enough to have the five Avengers give Steve their complete attention.
Natasha reached over and took hold of Steve's hand. His fingers curled around hers weakly.
"Steve." she called softly. "Come on, Steve. Wake up."
"We're all here with you, Capsicle." Tony added. "The way we should have been from the start."
"You were right about everything, Cap." Clint said. "We should have listened to you. Not doubt you."
Almost as if to want to gloat, Steve lightly sighed and his eyes slowly opened. He blinked a few times before his dazed eyes looked at his surroundings and his mind finally registered what was happening.
"What happened?" he half slurred.
"Steve, how do you feel?" Bruce asked.
They all expected Steve to say that he was feeling fine and that he should be released but his answer caught them all off guard.
"Bad." he answered.
"What's the last thing you remember?" Bruce asked.
Steve was silent for a moment before answering.
"I was shot." he said. "A lot."
"Yeah. You took quiet a few hits." Clint said.
"But you have great strength and have survived your attack." Thor declared.
Steve's eyes suddenly went wide.
"Steve?" Natasha asked looking and sounding concerned at his sudden behavior.
"Bucky." Steve said so softly that it almost missed the hearing of the others. Then he scared them all by trying to get out of bed.
"Steve, you need to stay in bed." Bruce declared as he tried to hold Steve down but was no match for the super soldier's strength.
Thor finally came over and was able to hold Steve down since his own strength was greater than Steve's.
"Let me go!" Steve ordered.
"Steve, you need to rest!" Natasha stated as she grabbed his hand. "You almost died!"
"I have to find him!" Steve declared as he continued to try to escape Thor's powerful grasp but was unable to since his strength was still not fully restored. Even then, Thor was the only other person who could out muscle him. "It was him! I know it was! I saw him! You have to believe me!"
"We do believe you!" Tony stated which caused Steve to suddenly stop and look at the man who is Iron Man. "We know it was James Barnes that shot you."
Steve continued to look at him in shock as the monitors aroudn them signaled that his heart rate was stabling.
"We believe you, Cap." Clint continued. "You were the only one on this planet who knew the location of that house and when we found you..."
"We knew that there was no chance of someone 'accidentally' finding you." Bruce continued. "We figured out that the person you saw that day at Coney Island was the real James Barnes."
They all noticed the fight leave Steve and he sank back into the bed. Thor slowly released his grip on the injured captain but stayed close to the bed in case a second round might take place.
But they all noticed how worn down Steve looked. He looked utterly exhausted and they knew it wasn't just from being shot so many times.
"How is he still alive?" Steve asked to no one in particular.
"We don't know." Bruce answered. "But we will help you, Steve. We're going to figure out exactly what's going on. But we need you to be fully healed and rested in order to do that. Alright?"
Steve simply nodded.
He was glad that the others finally beleived that he hadn't been seeing things. That he really had seen his childhood best friend and that very same person was the one responsible for him almost bleeding out in the living room of his secret hide-out house.
Despite all of that, he was glad that he was back with his friends and Natasha.
"We know that it won't be easy but we need you to rest now." Bruce said.
Steve nodded.
Natasha gave the others a look the easily said she was going to stay there at his side and nothing they did would seperate her from him. They understood and quietly left the room.
Although they were relieved that Steve was awake and healing, they were still uncertain about what the future was holding for all of them.
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"I believed you the whole time, Steve." Natasha said as she gently held his hand.
"Thanks." Steve replied. "I didn't want to leave like that but I wasn't sure if any one was taking me seriously. I decided to try to find out on my own. Didn't work out very well."
"I don't agree with everything that happened but you did find out the truth and all of us see it. Going to your old hide-out house actually worked to your advantage without you realizing it. You were the only one who should have known where it was and now we know who the Winter Soldier is."
"I can't believe it though." Steve said looking straight up at the ceiling. "He's alive."
"He is." Natasha said. "We don't know how or why but he is."
"I wonder why he's doing this." Steve said. "I know that it's Bucky but there's no way that he could be doing this. We were best friends. Why would he try to kill me?"
Natasha wished that she had answer to give him. One that he wanted to hear. One they all wanted to hear.
But she didn't.
None of them would have ever imagined that Steve's best friend from his youth would still be alive and trying to kill him.
From what they all know about James Barnes from files, clippings and Steve himself, he'd been like a brother to Steve. He knew where his priorities lied but he knew when he could allow himself to have fun.
Almost an innocent version of Clint. Steve had some times mentioned that the archer reminded him of his friend. The others some times believed that that was the reason the two got along so well.
For now, Natasha simply held his hand with comfort.
"We'll find out Steve." she said with a tone of promise.
Steve looked at the woman next to him and gave her a small smile.
"I missed you when I was gone." he said.
"Same here." she said. "I'm just glad that you're back."
"Me too."
"But if you ever do that again, I can't promise you'll live through the next bullet wound." she said with a teasing tone.
Steve smiled a little more.
"I promise. I won't ever do it again." he said.