Infectious

Chapter 12

"Down the hall, to your right. There's 5 men. All unarmed." Steve said from his spot in the Quinn jet.

A yellow figure on the screen took down all five swiftly and continued to walk down the hallway. "Thanks." Natasha said.

Steve grinned. He would've loved to be the one on the field, but this was better than nothing. "Clint, behind you."

Another yellow figure on the screen hid behind a corner as bullets were fired at him. He took his chance while the guy stopped for a quick second to shoot an arrow at him. He went down in a whining, crumpling heap.

"Thanks cap."

"Mmmhmm. Ok, now head straight, hallway to the left, door to the right. He should be there." He studied the screen.

"Gotcha." Clint said over comms.

"Any more?" Natasha asked.

"A few small groups, the closest one is down the hall to the right. Heading your way."

"I'm on it."

---

As expected, the mission went smoothly. The weapons dealer-type-guy was caught and now in SHIELDS custody.

Natasha was totally fine.

Clint had a black eye and bloody knuckles.

Steve was exhausted.

The second he relaxed in bed, he drifted asleep.

They went on a few more missions like these over the next two weeks. In that time, steve hasn't been getting worse really, not better either.

Bruce and tony found something that might slow it down, and steve now had to take the small pill every morning and night with the medicine he got when he had coughing fits.

Though it was slowing down, he got worse again.

This time, during a mission that Thor decided to tag along. Steve went quiet around the end. The line wasn't dead, their comms weren't broken.

Natasha was the first back at the jet, where she found steve jerking and convulsing on the floor. "Steve!" She sat in front on him and noticed a white foam coming out of his mouth.

His eyes were open and he was just barely conscious, but enough to feel the burning in his lungs from the lack of oxygen and the muscle spasms occurring. It hurt.

Clint already called Bruce and a hospital, telling them they'd be landing on the roof in 5 minutes while Natasha tried to keep steves airway open and him conscious.

He didn't hear anything, but knew she was talking. Her lips moving and the worry that plastered her face.  He wished he'd gone unconscious, for the pain to stop for now, to give him a short break. But he didn't.

Not until he was given something strong and sent off into a faze as his body slowly stopped jerking and moving on to twitching until he was peaceful.

---

The headache, the neck ache, and his chest ached. Really, everything ached. That's what he'd discovered as he slowly regained consciousness that night.

Back in his room, was only Natasha. Sitting against the wall with her head leaning back. Eyes closed and steady breaths going in, then out.

He groaned and moved over slightly. "...ow..." he said as he did so and that seemed to wake her up.

She straightened herself out and took a deep breath. "Hey," she slouched down again. "How you feeling?"

"...'t hurts..." he said quietly and clenched his fist as much as he could.

"Want me to get Bruce or-?"

"'S ok... what time is it?"

"3:47am"

"...have you been there," he swallowed a lump in his throat, "all night...?" He closed his eyes.

"Mmmhmm..." she said and rubbed her face.

"You didn't need to."

"Yes I did. We brought you back here, tony and Bruce disappeared into the lab after tony swore he wasn't going to leave until he finds the cure. Clint was half dead when we got here from exhaustion. And I told Thor he could go."

He smiled a bit. "Get on the bed."

Se opened her eyes all the way and looked straight at him, straightening her own back again. "Rogers, you trying to get in bed with me?" She said with a teasing smirk.

"I'm trying to get you in bed with me. The floor mustn't be too comfy and there's plenty of room." He closed his eyes and waited for her to climb in to open them again. "Thank you 'Tasha."

"Your welcome steve. Now get some rest."

"You too."

"Mmmhmm."