Artemis (A Steve Rogers Story)

1-Talking Racoon

My eyes slowly flutter open, and I groan out in pain, as I try to see where I am. "Don't... don't move" I hear Steve saying to me. I see him standing there leaning over me, and I can see the exhaustion on his face, and the pain. "You have a lot of internal injuries, you need to rest. You became overwhelmed by everything, and you passed out. We're back on the jet, we're going back to the compound" Steve explains to me, as I see Bruce, Nat, and James on the jet. I then notice that Thor was not there, and the racoon friend of his was flying the jet.

"Antho...Anthony, have... have you heard from Anthony?" I say to him, and he just shakes his head at me, and I break down.  Steve then moves over beside me, and holds me in his arms, "What's going to happen Steve? What is going to happen?" I cry out to him.

"I don't know... I just... I don't know" he says to me, as he holds me and Rhodey continues to fly us back to the compound. Arriving back at the compound, Steve helps get me inside, where he takes me to the infirmary.  Rhodey gets me hooked up to an IV, as he helps check over everyone else, as I let my body rest.

"Go, get yourself changed, I'll be okay" I say to Steve.
"No, no I can wait, I don't want to lose you" he says to me.
"Steve, you know we can heal, you look like crap, go shower, I'll still be here" I say smiling at him.
"Don't... don't disappear on me" he says as he gently touches my face, as he kisses my forehead before getting up and walking away.

I lay in the bed, trying to go over what had happened mere hours ago, and I still couldn't grasp that we had lost. I was scared about how much we had really lost in this fight, this wasn't something I knew we weren't going to get through. I hear footsteps and see Natasha coming in and she had a look on her face, and I knew something was wrong.

"Nat, Nat what is it?" I ask her.
"Laura, and the kids.... Clint, Clint called, they were having a picnic and... when, when that monster snapped, the kids and Laura, she, they...just disappeared" she tells me.

"Oh, God!" I cry, and I feel the tears flowing down.
"I told Clint to come here, but I don't know if he will" she says to me.
"Is there, is there anything else" I ask her.
"I tried to contact Fury, and there was a message from Hill they were trying to get a hold of Tony, or you I guess then the call drops. I am going to head into the city later, I had James ping there last known location, and check it out" she tells me.

"Do you want.. want me to come along?" I ask her as I try to sit up.
"You need to get better, you have been taking care of all of us for years, you need to take care of yourself" she tells me.
"Just be careful, take Bruce or James with you please" I say to her.
"I will, get some rest" she says as she walks away.

I hear footsteps and see the racoon coming into the room, "Hey, the others, wanted me to keep an eye on you while the big guy comes back. Oh, I'm Rocket by the way" he tells me.
"Rocket the racoon" I say to him.
"I had a friend that calls me trash-panda" he says to me and I laugh.

It's only a few minutes later when Steve comes back into the room, changed out of his suit, and cleaned up. "Well, you clean up nicely" I say smiling at him.
"Yeah, and you are looking a bit better' he says as he grabs a chair and sits beside me.

"That's my cue, I'm gonna go tinker around in this place see if there is anything I can do to figure out where that thing went" Rocket says as he walks away.
"Having him around is going to get some getting used to" Steve says to me.

"I think he'll grow on us" I tell Steve.
"How are you doing?" he then ask me.
"Physically I am okay" I say, "Mentally I am not so sure" I say as tears go down my cheeks.
"I know...I know" he says as he wipes the tears from my cheeks, "Nat told me about Clint" he says.

"Did... did she leave for the city?" I ask him.
"She just did, a few minutes ago" he says to me.
"I swear Steve, if she comes back without Nicholas or Maria, I honestly don't know how much more loss I can take. I mean right now we don't even know if Anthony is still alive, if Pepper is alive, oh, God Pepper, she might not know, she doesn't know" I start to panic, gasping for breath.