Touch of Winter

Chapter 14: Cold Snap

I nearly dropped the phone, and my mouth went dry, when I got the call. 

Northern had collapsed at school. 

I didn't even move for a moment or two. The first thought in my mind being, was it hydra? Northern had my immune system. If it was a sickness it would have to be a human engineered virus to infect her that quickly...unless she was hiding her symptoms from me. It wasn't out of the question with how private she was.  

 I couldn't understand what the nurse was telling me. I just told her I was on the way to pick her up myself. 

"What's going on?" Steve asked.

"Northern collapsed at school," I said.

"What? The bell let out maybe 15 minute ago."

"I don't know, but I'm heading over there right now."

"I'll contact Bruce, and Tony, let them know what's happening."

I was out of the mansion and booking it down the street before I could think about what I was doing, or how to get there.  I parked out front. The school was already cleared of exiting students, but now there were EMTs on their porch. They sure showed up fast, but it would probably look bad on school records if a high-profile student died on their grounds.

"Uncle Bucky!" A certain red-headed teenager, stood out in the crowd of uniformed adults. 

"James! What happened?" I asked, trusting the story from my family over the countless strangers.

"I'm not sure. She was kind out of it all day, but I thought she was just tired. She was in the bathroom and I went to get her because our ride was here, but then she-she just..."

"Okay, where is she now?"

James pointed towards the ambulance.

The back of the medical vehicle was open, and I could see inside. Northern in there, laying in the gurney, far too still. A shiny sheen of sweat over her exposed skin, and her cheeks flushed red. She looked like she was over heating, and yet the medics were wrapping her up in thermal blankets. I started marching towards them.

"Sir, you can't be here," A young man in and EMT uniform said.

I took off my left glove, "I'm her father. Now what's going on?"

"Well...we aren't really sure, sir...but the docs at the hospitals will have a better idea."

"No, you'll be taking back to Avenger's Mansion."

"Sir, she's lethargic, almost non-responsive. She needs a hospital." 

I shook my head, "Your docs won't understand her unique physiology. Chances are that tehy'll just make her condition worse. I can tell you right off the bat that she's over heating, and what you're doing isn't helping."

"Her body temperature is below what's normal. Along with the altered-mental state, it's clear she has hypothermia."

"It's normal for her body to be as cold as a corpse. What I'm looking at is the sweating and flushed skin. Aren't those textbooks signs of over heating?"

"Well, yes...but the doctors will have a better understanding..."

"The only doctor that will be able to help her is currently at Avenger's Mansion. Either you drive there, or I will."

....

Banner had been ready when we got back to the mansion. The jolly green giant had taken Northern down to the underground infirmary himself. Now he was setting up ice bags on Northern's pulse points and attaching cooling IV drips and other monitors to the rest of her.