Buzzkill: The Reckoning

Chapter 58

"Ruth! Ruth, can you hear me? Stay with me. Please, stay with me," Bucky pleaded desperately. He sat beside the gurney Ruth was laid down on, the Quinjet being flown as fast as it could go with Natasha in the cockpit.

Ruth's eyes stayed closed, at one point her eyelashes barely fluttering before becoming still again. Dark smoke still clung in patches around her face, ash scattered throughout her hair. Tear stains broke through the debris and blood dried on her cheeks and under her eyes.

Dani and Syd wrapped up her major injuries, temporarily closing the bullet wounds and wrapping up any other bleeding, trying to keep her from losing any more blood. Dani set down the paddles once more, her hands still stained in Ruth's blood, keeping them close by in case she lost Ruth again.

"Why does her heart keep stopping?" Bucky asked aloud, louder than he needed to, not knowing who would know.

"She's in hypovolemic shock," Dani replied, keeping her voice even, hoping to somehow calm down the Soldier's temper. "We're lucky the paddles actually worked. Because of her immunity, it takes a lot of electricity to get her heart started again. But it looks like her body began to amplify the electricity given to her to restart her heart on its own."

"How do you know all this?" Steve asked Dani, feeling helpless as he sat and watched everyone else work on Ruth, sitting by in case they needed him to do something. He couldn't help but feel a rising panic at the disorder of soaked-through bandages, medical equipment, and residual debris from the explosion that surrounded them.

"That she's in shock?" Dani asked, "She has all the symptoms. You're not raised in my business without knowing how to take care of bullet wounds and blood loss." She kept her focus on Ruth, keeping her hold on Ruth's wrist to feel her heart.

"How do we get her out of the shock?" Bucky asked, desperately trying to see if he could fix anything. He held his arm around Ruth's head as she laid down, wanting to be as close to her as he could.

"She's lost too much blood for her heart to keep up. She'll need a blood transfusion, and fast."

"We're still hours away from the nearest Avengers or SHIELD facility," Steve said, his own heart racing, his face going a bit pale.

Bucky's voice broke, "She won't make it."

"What are we supposed to do?" Sam chimed in, in charge of keeping pressure on Ruth's shoulder wound. "No hospital is going to have the equipment to help her, not to mention the questions they'll ask."

Bucky looked down at Ruth, her heart barely fluttering enough to get a strong beat, her breath shallow and weak.

His mind clicked. Bucky stepped back from Ruth gently, stood, and took his phone out of his pocket, "I'm calling in a favor."

The Quinjet came to a soft landing on a helipad high above the air. As soon as the loading door opened, Bucky, Sam, Steve, Syd, and Dani rushed out with Ruth laid on a stretcher.

Three doctors, lead by Shuri, ran out to meet them, bringing along their own stretcher that suspended in the air, glowing with technology. Everyone carefully moved Ruth over to the Wakandan stretcher, jogging inside the large, looming glass building while the doctors checked Ruth's vitals.

"What happened?" Shuri asked, her Wakandan accent strong, looking for answers as she gathered the readings on her tablet.

"She's in shock. She's lost a lot of blood," Dani spoke for Bucky, him not yet able to put his words together. "Three gun shot wounds. Multiple stab wounds."

"How is she not already dead?" Shuri asked, a bit confused, all of them continuing to run alongside the gurney.

"She's been administered amounts of Super Soldier serum in the past," Steve explained.

Shuri scrolled through multiple screens on her tablet, typing away at something too fast for Bucky to comprehend. "I can see where the bullets are," she told them. "We'll get her into surgery right away."

"Is she gonna make it?" Bucky asked, his voice frail, looking completely disheveled. Dried blood caked on top of the ash buried in his clothes and skin. It made Shuri question if any of the blood belonged to him.

"I'm not sure yet," Shuri replied honestly. "It's a good thing you brought her here when you did. We'll do the best we can."

As they all continued to run farther into the facility, the three doctors leading Ruth went ahead, Shuri stopping anyone from continuing on. "You'll have to wait out here. I promise she's in good hands," She urged Bucky, backing away to the door where the doctor's took Ruth.

"No, you don't understand," Bucky interjected, stopping Shuri in her tracks. "I have to be in there. I have to make sure she's alright."

Steve held him back from trying to get any closer.

"Bucky," Shuri started, sympathy in her voice. "The best thing you can do for her is wait out here. You have to trust me.'

Bucky didn't say another word. He couldn't. Emotion caught in his chest, watching as Shuri turned and walked through the doors.

His heart ached, stress breaking him down. All he wanted was for her to be ok. He would give up his life to ensure she would be able to live.