bulletproof

2

A surge of panic flooded through him as he saw her starting to fade out and he brought her lips to his, desperate to keep her alive, even if she was hanging on by a thread, "I'm not letting you slip away after our heart to heart," he whispered against her lips and she replied with a soft sigh, it was barely any breath but it was enough to assure him that she wasn't dead yet.

He broke off, so that she could breathe and just as she took a deep, rattling breath, the others stormed in, carrying a stretcher and pushing Steve out of the way.

"Be careful!" he cried out to deaf ears as they gently lifted her up, eliciting a shout of pain from her and reassuring whispers from Clint.

The jolting movements of hoisting her onto the stretcher brought a heavier stream of blood flow, and moans, tearing Steve's heart into two at the sounds of her being in such agony.

"Guys, we need to hurry...we're losing her." Tony's voice came out with a robotic sound through his suit, assessing her injuries through his technology and it was one of the only times they had ever heard him genuinely worried.

They sped up, almost running as they carried her to the jet, a light sheen of sweat covering them all from the stress of getting to a hospital before it was too late.

Natasha opened the jet door with her handprint, and Bruce ushered them in, the worry lines on his forehead even more pronounced than before as he saw the damage to her abdomen and the blood. There was so much blood that the stretcher was drenched as well as Y/N.

Natasha looked at her own hands and gasped in horror at the amount of Y/N's lifeblood on her hands, already dry and cracked. She gagged at the metallic smell as they placed Y/N on the floor of the jet and cut open her suit. Steve's face was as white as a sheet as he watched Bruce and Tony try to wash some of the blood away so that they could find the penetration wound.

"Is there an exit wound?" Bruce demanded, fiercely, taking the team back at the harsh tone to his voice and Steve stammered negative.

Tony inhaled sharply as they found the wound and he moved away, letting Bruce take the reins until they got back to the compound and brought her to a real hospital. He turned to the cockpit where Sam was bringing the jet into flight and went to sit there, his heart racing as Y/N's slowed.

"Nat. I need you to bring my kit now," Bruce ordered, furiously trying to clean the wound, and trying to assess how deep the bullet went in, "Do you know what type the bullet was?"

Steve shook his head as Natasha answered him, handing the kit over, before going to the back wall and leaning back, gulping in deep breaths as she watched her best friend be prevented from dying.

"I can't do this," Bruce exploded out, wiping away a dribble of sweat from his forehead, "It's too complicated for me, she needs to go to a hospital now, we barely have enough time."

Clint lowered his head and collapsed to his knees, his bow clattering to the ground. He made no effort to pick it up.

Tony could hear the defeat in Bruce's voice and the overbearing silence from the back and his legs trembled, his body felt heavy. Sam's grip on the steer tightened and his teeth gritted. He sped up the engine. Y/N couldn't die. Not yet. Not now.

"All I can do is stop her from dying until we reach the professionals," Bruce said, taking off his glasses for a moment to wipe away the over flood of tears to his eyes. He felt useless. What was the point of having so many PhDs if he couldn't save a life?

Steve just clutched onto Y/N's hand, he squeezed it and felt a weak squeeze back.

"Please don't die," he whispered, pleadingly, "I need more than one kiss from you."

Y/N opened her eyes, her eyelids fluttering feebly, and her lips upturned into a fragile smile, her voice barely audible as she replied, "I'll try."

His shoulders slumped with relief at her gentle murmur, before quivering as quiet sobs wracked through his body, his emotions controlling him as he saw flashes of Bucky falling off the train into the snowy crevices and Y/N holding onto her stomach as he killed the last of the agents, shivering and her arms turning a sickening red as blood seeped through her clothes before collapsing to the ground.

Y/N watched him, wanting to say something to soothe him or to wipe away the tear tracks and dirt from his face but she couldn't move, her arms didn't have any feeling in them and her voice was dry and sore.

Natasha, feeling wobbly and almost like she was going to faint, walked to Steve's side and comforted him, looking at Y/N knowingly. She knew that it caused Y/N an emotional pain for her to see Steve cry, so she attempted to stop him, to try to remove an ache from her dying friend.

She placed a hand on Y/N's other hand and gave her a small pained smile. If Y/N was going to die, she'd make sure Y/N didn't feel alone in her final breaths.