Steve was pacing around the floor. "This isn't right. It shouldn't be like this."
"What? That your crush is will be dead in three days?" Tony asked as he worked on suit improvements. The newest one had gotten beaten up in a flight test the other day. All the other suits he had destroyed in various ways, yes, but he now he needed to create a new one. A better one. Except this time he wasn't exactly going to be the one in the suit… But that would be a while before he would get his machine up and running.
"I don't have a crush on her, Stark," Steve snapped at the billionaire, glancing over in his direction. "It's not right that her father gets to decide whether she lives. He told the damn hospital himself that he wasn't in her life anymore!"
"Okay, so why are you here again?" Tony asked him, glancing up. "I mean, I get it's hard to make friends when your ninety-five, but isn't there another friend you could be talking to about this? I mean, the man's not my employee, he's Norman Osborne's so I can't touch him. Why don't you get SHIELD to help? Aren't you their puppet now?"
"I do missions for them," Steve corrected as he stopped pacing altogether. He gave the billionaire a harsh look. What was up with the billionaire today? Usually he was so willing to help with things like this. "And I already asked. They told me they don't get involved in things like this and that I have no right to either."
Tony sighed as he continued his work. "Well, Capsicle, I don't know what to tell you to do. Other than to go bug someone else with your girl problems."
Just then the door opened to Dr. Bruce Banner and a short redhead. The redhead was walking ahead of the doctor who was looking in her direction with an unsure expression. The woman's hair was curly, stopping just before her waist. She had a round face and moss green eyes. She has freckles over her pale skin and a curvy body with her height of 5'2". And Steve didn't recognize her at all.
"Ah, the lovers return!" Tony said as he sat his tools down and went over to take a Starbucks drink from the tray in the redhead's hands. "I was wondering when you two would get back. I was afraid you two started sucking each other's faces off." The redhead looked unamused… Actually, she didn't have any emotion on her face. She kind of looked bored, either she didn't process Tony's comment or not caring enough to.
"Tony," Bruce chastised before noticing Steve. "Steve, nice to see you again."
"Likewise," Steve responded with a nod to the doctor. "I didn't know you were in town."
"Yeah, it was a surprise for me also." Bruce said, a pointed look towards Tony as he stopped a few feet away from the mystery woman. Tony said something in response but Steve didn't pay much attention. His attention was on this unknown woman, trying to place if he knew her at all. She wasn't looking at him, instead her attention was completely on Bruce, who was chuckling. She looked confused, her eyes furrowing more by the moment. Was she with Bruce? Last he knew, Bruce didn't have a girlfriend.
"Ah, you two haven't met," Tony said as he noticed Steve scrutinizing Theo. "Theo, this is Steve Rogers. Steve, this is Theo Carlyle, she can touch you and know everything you ever have gone through in your entire life. She hasn't got a codename yet because SHIELD doesn't know about her. So, if you aren't SHIELD's puppet you'll keep her abilities hush-hush. Isn't that right, Merida?" Tony asked as he clapped the redhead on the back.
"Mr. Stark," Theo said in slight shock and anger, her cheeks bright red. Still her expression remained unchanged. "You can't just go around telling people what I can do!"
"Oh, it's fine. He's Captain America."
Theo started to respond but stopped, caught off-guard by Tony's sentence. Evidently she was one of those who hadn't made it to the Smithsonian in Washington, D.C. This was New York, after all. He didn't expect a lot of people here to have gone to see the new exhibit in the past few weeks. Steve shook his head and walked over to Theo. "Nice to meet you, ma'am."
"Likewise," Theo answered in a small voice, staring at Steve's hand for a moment. "Uh, er, are you sure you comfortable with…?"
"With…?" Steve repeated, uncertain what she meant.
Theo exhaled and glanced up to meet his gaze before she focused on another point in the room as she spoke. "I'll see all the personal things and feel all the emotions you have ever felt. There isn't anything I won't know about your past." She admitted, looking uncomfortable, but she still had that bored look etched into her face. It made Steve curious if that was a permanent thing for her.
"Oh," Steve said, dropping his hand. He wasn't that comfortable with someone he just met knowing all that about him.
"Yeah. Besides, Theo's not huge on human contact," Tony said as he put his arm around Theo's shoulders. Theo involuntarily flinched at the contact. "So brownie points for not accepting it, Cap."
"Then why do you have to keep doing that?" Steve asked as he stepped closer to Tony and swatted his arm from her. "She doesn't enjoy it, so leave her alone."
"Well, how about you—" Tony started to argue back but Theo stepped between the two.
"Mr. Rogers, Mr. Stark, both of you need to calm down. There's no need to fight, not over something as silly as this. Please, not with Dr. Banner in the vicinity. I do not want an… accident to occur." Theo said as she glanced between them.
Steve backed off and walked over to the window, his mind reeling. He didn't know what to think about any of the things going on. He had decided already he wasn't going to let anyone hurt Scottlyn. He knew he would need some help, but Tony was unwilling to help. Now it was clear he would have to do things himself.
"Where are you going?" Tony called after him as he hurried to the door.
Steve paused and turned towards the billionaire. "I'm going to go save Scottlyn's life. She doesn't deserve to die like this. You wouldn't understand." Steve said to him before turning his back and hurrying out.
Steve, resolved to wait at the hospital until Scottlyn's father came around, he had grown tired of waiting. He called her father's assistant but her father never answered Steve's messages. Now Steve was going to visit the man and try to knock some sense into him.
Steve had to restrain himself from rushing into the man's office as he waited in the waiting room of her father's office in Oscorp. It had been a pain to get past the front desk, but ended up pulling some strings with SHIELD to get him in. He was pretty sure SHIELD was getting fed up with him calling in all these favors but he was using it to save someone's life. This was for the best.
How could a man order his own daughter, his flesh and blood, to death? What power did he have to decide her fate? It wasn't fair and Steve refused to stand by and watch as he did. It was a horrible fate he didn't want anyone to go through.
Steve stood and walked over to the assistant's desk after a forty-five minute wait. "Excuse me, ma'am," He said as he approached, using a formal tone. "Do you have any clue when Mr. West is going to return from his lunch break?"
"Mr. West leaves for lunch whenever he pleases and returns whenever he pleases," The assistant answered with slight annoyance. "As I said before, if you don't want to wait, hun, all you have to do is take the elevator and leave."
Steve gave her a 'thank you' and a nod before going back to the seat he had been before sitting in. She didn't have to be so rude to him, he hadn't been rude to her. It's not like he interrupted anything she was doing either; she was just filing her nails. She looked about mid-twenties and had dyed red hair, and he thought she was pretty.
Just then a man turned the corner and approached the desk. He looked maybe in his early fifties with gray, slicked back hair. He was in a fancy suit and was only about 5'8" or 5'9". Steve sat straight up.
"Nerissa," The man said to the assistant. "Who is my 1:30 appointment? I think I might have to cancel because Mr. Osbourne might pop in."
"Well, your 1:30 already canceled." Nerissa answered her boss.
"Fantastic," The man started to walk towards the office door.
"Mr. West, you have a visitor," Nerissa said out to him. Mr. West stopped walking and turned to look at Steve as if he just noticed him. "This is Steven Rogers, the man that's been contacting you about your daughter."
Mr. West didn't say a word as his brown eyes scrutinized Steve. Steve didn't like the man already, his gaze was hard and cold. "See him in, Nerissa." Mr. West turned and walked into his office without another word, closing the door behind him.
"Well, aren't you lucky," Nerissa said as she stood from her desk. "Mr. West doesn't see just anyone. I believe he wouldn't even see his daughter when she came to visit last, and she sat right in front of him in that exact seat you are. Completely ignored her, he did." She shook her head and gestured him to walk over to the door. "Don't do anything stupid to get security called. I have a feeling our guards would be seriously injured." She gave him a smile before she opened the office door.
Mr. West, seated at his desk, was looking at papers and gave no sign he heard them enter. The glass walls on the side of the building let in a lot of light and Steve had to blink a moment before his eyes adjusted. "Mr. West, Mr. Rogers." Steve took a few steps into the office.
"Mr. Rogers, can Nerissa get you something to drink?" Mr. West asked as he continued to flip through the stack of paper in his hands.
"No thank you, sir." Steve responded.
"Nerissa, grab me a coffee. Mr. Rogers, you can take a seat," Mr. West lifted his hand to swat Nerissa away and then to gesture to the seat for Steve.
"Thank you, sir," Steve said as he sat down in the chair. He looked back at Nerissa and she mouthed, "Good luck" to him before closing the door. That was a stark difference than the way she had treated him moments before. Steve looked back at Mr. West to see he had lifted his eyes to look at him.
"So I take it you're the Steven Rogers? The famous Captain America?" Mr. West said in a condescending tone.
Steve stared at him a couple of moments before opening his mouth to speak. "I didn't come here to speak about me, I came here to speak about Scottlyn, your daughter." He answered.
"Yes, I've gotten your many messages. On my e-mail, my work phone, and my personal phone. All in less than a week's time I had to change all three of those which you managed to get your hands on again. I take it was those powerful friends of yours." Mr. West said, a cold expression on his face.
"I thought you would admire someone getting another to do their dirty work for them," Steve said back in a harsh tone. "Just like you're going to let them stop giving nutrients to Scottlyn so she dies." Mr. West went to respond, but Nerissa walked in with his coffee. She gave it to him before leaving, sneaking Steve a smile before she left.
"Why are you so interested in my daughter's well-being, Mr. Rogers?" Mr. West asked as he sat forward. "Scottlyn had done nothing to draw the attention of Captain America. She worked for the governor of New York, yes, but as a PR consultant. She had refused to work at Oscorp because I work here. She was an ingrate."
"She's not dead," Steve snapped. "Stop speaking about her in the past tense as if she is. Are you that ready for her to be dead that you've already become accustomed to speaking about her like that?" Steve didn't pause to give Mr. West a chance to respond. "I saved Scottlyn and a small child from that fire. I could have carried her out first but she told me to save the boy first. She said she would be fine. She was ready to give her life to save him. She doesn't deserve to die this way or whatever you hope will kill her first. All her organs are functioning properly other than her brain. You can't just take her off all those machines and just hope she dies. You would be starving a human being, Mr. West. Your own daughter."
"Tell me, Mr. Rogers, what about the other coma patients in that hospital? Do you spend days with them also? Do you beg their families not to pull the plug?" Mr. West sat forward, banging his fist down on the table. "Scottlyn could be suffering right now and you would want me to let her go through with that than let her go."
"You've already let her go! You were just speaking in the past tense about her!" Steve pointed out.
"Scottlyn and I might not have been on the best of terms when the accident happened, Mr. Rogers, but I know what is best for my daughter. You are a strange man that I have allowed to visit my daughter in the hospital. I could cut off your privileges from seeing her at any time with just one phone call," Mr. West countered as tapped his fingers on his desk. "I do not need a man who shouldn't even be alive himself tell me if my daughter should or should not live."
Steve stared at the man for a long moment before he stood. There was no getting through to Mr. West and Steve saw that now. He wished he hadn't had come today and felt like he had made it worse by coming. He started to leave but then turned back around to look at Mr. West one last time. "You know, I might not know Scottlyn, but I am sure as hell that you do not deserve to call her your daughter. I know you're the kind of man that would've made me save you from the fire first. She doesn't deserve that kind of father." With that, Steve turned and opened the office door. He started to leave when Mr. West's voice stopped him again.
"Like I mentioned earlier, Mr. Rogers," Mr. West began. Steve feared that he was going to revoke his visitation to Scottlyn. "You have powerful friends. You can tell Mr. Stark not to worry… that Scottlyn will remain on the machines."
Steve's shoulders slumped in relief. Scottlyn was safe from her father. Steve didn't turn to say anything to Mr. West and continued walking out of the office. He gave Nerissa a smile before hurrying out. He was going to go see Tony and figure out what strings the billionaire had pulled to make Mr. West keep Scottlyn on the machines.