Winter Soldier Steve

Collateral Damage

The next day, Natasha called an Avengers meeting, with Sam and Rhodey in attendance as well.

"We're setting up a three shift, four watch on Steve. Obviously, since Clint, Sam and I were no match for him, we'll each be paired with someone else. Tony, you're with me, Thor and Clint, and Rhodey and Sam. Tony, go grab a suit," she started towards the door.
"We're on first watch. Clint, Thor, we'll see you in four hours."

When they got into the room, they found Steve asleep. They sat down, and Nat pulled out two of her pistols. They sat for twelve hours in silence, Steve waking up only to pass out again.

When Clint came in, Thor on his heels, Natasha stood up. She touched Clint's arm, briefly, and then left, following Tony. She went back to the council room, and almost immediately fell asleep on the couch.

What felt like a few minutes had actually been a few hours when Sam shook her awake.

"What?" She sat up. "You're lucky I've been trained to function on little to no sleep, Sam."

"Can we talk?"

Nat rolled her eyes.
"Aren't we already?"

Sam smiled.
"Yeah, but......never mind. Have you noticed anything about Steve's behavior?"

"Um, like the fact that he's not Steve anymore? Yes," she nodded.

He shook his head.
"No. I mean yes, but isn't it more like when we were fighting Bucky? He's acting kind of similar, don't you think?"

"Now that you mention it," she suddenly looked serious. "I guess, yeah. He didn't know who we were, or who he was himself. You don't think-"

"That they put that serum in him? Yes, I do. I figured since you're the only other person that fought Bucky, I would talk to you first. To make sure I wasn't crazy."

"Yeah, that might sound crazy to the others, but it makes sense to me," she said. Nat stood up. "We need to go tell the others."

——

The rest of the Avengers listened with thoughtful expressions. They had cameras watching Steve, who was sitting calmly in his chair. Suddenly, who sat up straighter. He put his feet on the floor, and pushed himself off, flipping over, and breaking the chair.

In Clint's eyes, it happened in slow motion. He and Thor should have been on there. He cursed himself for leaving, whether or not they had cameras.
He grabbed Natasha, whispering in her ear.

"Budapest!"
In that secretive mission, they'd been in a similar situation.

They made their way down to ambush Steve.
Sam headed out, grabbing his wings, and heading after Natasha and Clint. He ran into a very angry Steve in the hall, and was shoved to the floor. His head cracked against the floor, and he saw stars, as Steve moved past him, into another room.

The alarms were blaring at full volume, and it was doing nothing for Sam's concentration. He pushed himself off of the ground, and ran after Steve.

He caught him at the end of the hall, about to enter a room, and Steve turned around, his fist catching Sam's jaw. He retaliated by hitting Steve in the stomach, causing him to double over, and Sam dug his elbow into the back of Steve's neck. Steve jerked his head up, butting Sam in the chin, and landed a wicked hit to the head, causing Sam to fall again, this time, knocked out cold.

He entered the room, and met a certain archer, with an arrow cocked and ready. He shot Steve, who dodged, and it exploded behind him, throwing the super soldier forwards. Clint's bow changed into a staff, and he whacked Steve upside the head. He fell, and Clint put a foot on his back. Steve picked himself up, flipping Clint through the air, and he landed on his back, grunting. He punched Clint hard, breaking his nose, and Clint fell unconscious.

He moved to the next room, and met one Black Widow, one gun out, and a calm look on her face. She waited for Steve to come to her, and when he did, she kicked him in the stomach, and he doubled over, before grabbing her arms and kneeing her in the stomach.
He grabbed her gun, and threw her to the floor, pinning her on the ground. She struggled to regain the breath she had lost, before Steve punched her in the jaw. He stood up and kicked her, again and again, as she tried to move away, and he knees her face as she sat up. He kept kicking, not stopping when a loud crack showed that her ribs were breaking. She barely whimpered, but her eyes were clouded with pain.
She pulled herself up, and winced at the pain in her ribs. She swung her leg around, sweeping Steve's feet out from under him. She stood up, as did Steve. He grabbed her arm and threw her into the wall, and she fell, crying out. She got up again, and Steve held a knife to her throat.
She kicked him in the groin, and he doubled over again, giving her time to recover the gun she'd dropped. She clicked a bullet into the chamber, but when Steve kicked her where her ribs were broken, she yelled and fell again, and she didn't get up.
Steve kicked her again, and pushed down on her ribs. He grabbed the gun that she had dropped, and shot her twice, in the shoulder and leg.
She screamed, and he seemed to relish it. He kicked her again, and she slipped into a pained unconsciousness, just as Clint woke up.

He stormed after Steve, only to find Natasha lying on the floor, bleeding from two bullet wounds. He pressed his comm.

"Stark, Tasha is down, go and get him!"

He knelt by Natasha and ripped his shirt into bandages. He wrapped her shoulder, and leg, and picked her up, careful not to jostle her, and ran as fast as he could to the medical wing.

He bandaged her up, and while he was digging the second bullet out, she woke.

"Ow," she said, and Clint grinned.

"Well, since you have five broken ribs, two GSW's," he said, and she winced. "Yeah, it probably hurts. Jesus," he grumbled. "Rogers didn't miss much, did he?"

Natasha closed her eyes as Clint pulled the bullet out, and rested her head on the table. Clint just shook his head.

Natasha slipped out again, and when Clint finished, he carried her back to his room. He tucked her under blankets, and went to Tony's lab, where he found an unconscious Steve on a table next to Stark.

"We need to bring in the best doctors, to see who can fix him," Stark said, looking at Clint.

"I know a guy," Clint said.

He walked over to a computer and pulled up a map.

"Wakanda. This man, T'challa, owes me a favor from the last time Nat and I were there." He looked pained at the mention of his injured friend.

"His country has top of the notch tech. If anyone can fix him, they can. But we need to wake him up first. They can fix Steve. Not whoever this is."

Tony nodded.

"How do we do that?"

Clint shrugged.

"Beats me," he said.

——

Clint and Tony were debating ways to deal with the unwanted prisoner when he awoke, thrashing in his restraints, and realizing where he was. He calmed when he saw Clint's face.

"Hey, Clint," he said, and almost laughed at the shock on his face. "Can you untie me?"

Clint did a double take.

"Steve?"
Steve blinked, and refocused.

"Yeah, man. Who else?"

Tony looked between Steve and Clint.

"Um, Steve," he said cautiously. "Do you remember anything from the last week?"

Steve shook his head.

"I remember being kidnapped, and they gave me some sort of serum. But that's it."

Realization hit him and he gasped.
"I wasn't a winter soldier, right?"

Clint and Tony met eyes.

"Guys?"

Steve shook his head. He couldn't think. He shut his eyes, and trembled.

"Not like Bucky," he mumbled, over and over. Clint walked over and put a hand in his shoulder.

"Steve? Buddy?"

No response.

"Steve!"