Infectious

Chapter 5

"What the hell did you do to him?" Bruce asked as he entered the room where the scientist was cuffed to the table.

He shrugged his shoulders and shook his head. "You're going to have to be more specific-"

Bruce slammed his fists down on the table, the scientist flinched at the sudden movement. "steve! What the hell did you do to him?!"

He smiled maniacally and began to chuckle. "Has the nausea started?" He leaned forward, "Migraines? Fever? Sweating?"

Bruce stepped back one step, no, "What the hell did you do?!" Be grabbed him by the collar of the shirt and tugged upwards.

"I take that as a yes-"

"Answer!!!" He shouted and shook the scientist. It was taking every single ounce of effort inside of him to keep from the other guy to come out.

He smiled again, "you're captain is as good as dead." He chuckled.

No. No. No. NONONONONO. "I'm not going to ask again. What. Did. You. Do?"

He sighed. "During my years of research for the super soldier serum, I have come close to a breakthrough, only all of my test subjects, well, died soon after."

"I wouldn't call that a breakthrough."

"But it is, you see, when I mixed it with the captains serum infused blood... let's just say, your captain is infected with an incurable disease."

Bruce slammed his face down on the metal table and he shouted in pain. "How do we stop it?" He didn't answer. "Tell me dammit!"

He wiped his broken nose on his shoulder and hissed at the pain rushing through his face, "You cannot. It is incurable, and fatal. For your captain, of course, the process will be much longer and painful than those who weren't injected with a super soldier serum. And I," he lifted his chin high and sat up straight as to be proud of something "would be known as the one who killed captain America." He grinned once more and Bruce slammed his fist into his face a few times before SHIELD agents hauled him out.

He ran, and ran, and ran, for steves room. And he hoped that this was all just a joke and that steve would be totally fine, but when he showed up steve was actually asleep, or unconscious.

But his forehead still held a good layer of sweat and he looked paler than he was earlier. The doctor was administering more painkillers and antibiotics for the fever that spiked 10 minutes ago.

Bruce brought his hands up to his face and rubbed it. He tried to push it away, to open his eyes and he never had a fever, or never threw up, or maybe never even was captured by those hydra agents and experimented on. "What happened?"

"He spiked a fever, it could just be an infection-"

Bruce grumbled, turned in a circle and punched the air.

"What? What is it?" Clint asked from his spot next to steves bed.

Bruce opened his eyes, looked at steve first and the monitor showing his temperature, 103.2. "Dammit." He breathed out and stood directly beside his bed. "He was injected with some sort of serum that the scientist had been working on..." both of their eyes grew and Natasha's attention was turned to steve. "It wasn't ready. I went down to talk to him, he told me all of test subjects... died and that the same would happen to steve, only slower... and more painful."

"He-he has to be lying. It's-it's hydra, they're just trying to scare us..." Clint tried to say in disbelief.

"He was proud, and he knew exactly what his symptoms were. I don't think he is."

"But you can find a cure, right?" Natasha asked and grabbed his hand.

Bruce stood there, watching his chest slowly rise and fall and listen to the slightly faster beeps of the heart monitor. "I'm gonna find a cure, I need to."