The Reluctant Hero

Mercy or Kill?

The Avengers screamed as their teammate was buried under a pile of burning rubble. The explosion brought the entire multistory car park down and would've decimated half the city if it wasn't for Percy.

They instantly sprung forward, leaving the evacuees and hostages with the police, and started desperately trying to put out the fires and dig the rubble. They had to find their friend!
"P-Admiral!" Tony almost slipped as he frantically scanned the wreckage for life signs.

"Admiral!" Steve was trying to remain calm, "Admiral! Can you hear us!?" They all called his name for long, tense minutes hoping against hope that he was alright. Hoping against hope that those Olympian powers of his could help him or that the bomb had blown the rubble away from him and he's been cleared or that he had time to make a shield around himself or anything that would help him survive.

"Admiral! Please!"
"Come on, Mate! Answer us!"
"Admiral! Answer!"

"Come on! Come on!" The civilians watched on, scared, as the heroes kept digging.

"Shit! No!" Clint cursed as a section of the rubble collapsed inward and the fires spread. The team felt the hope they'd been protecting and counting on dwindle as Percy's chances dropped.
Then they heard it!
Percy's groan could be heard across the comms. 
"You guys are not helping my headache." The team laughed slightly hysterically in relief, a couple of them with less than dry eyes.

"Admiral! Where are you?!" Percy grunted.

"Under some rubble." He coughed thickly. "I think something's burning." He commented idly. He always responded to deadly situations with as much sarcasm as possible. He used to think it made the situation seem less real, but he'd grown to realise it was more about the feeling of control: if he could mock something, he could beat it.

"Do you know what section you're in?" The good Captain completely ignored his comments.

"I'm scanning now, JARVIS is trying to pinpoint his comm." Ironman was on it straight away. "There! North West corner, Cap." They sprinted over and saw that the section Tony had indicated was burning.

"Fuck." Breathed Stark.

"Admiral, how are you feeling? Are you badly injured?" Cap was looking over the rubble, trying to find a way to get in.

"Umm..." Percy's voice was rough and strained. "I...I can't move my leg and...and it's getting hard to breathe...it's really hot in here...I-help, Cap. I'm bleeding more than I should be and I don't know what's wrong..." It was Natasha who answered now.

"Use your powers Admiral, like we practised." His chuckle was tired and pained.

"I'd really love to Widow, but I-I hit my head and now I can't...I can't seem to think straight."
The team cursed again and moved forward. 
"OK, Admiral, don't worry: we're coming for you." Cap vowed, "Thor! I need you to start a storm. We have to put out those fires!" 

"At once, Good Captain!" Thor flew into the air, his hammer spinning, cape fluttering in the gale-force winds above their heads as he threw lightning into the clouds and they responded by pelting the world below them with sheets of freezing rain. The civilians huddled under what cover they could find and Cap smiled grimly.

"Well done Thor. Ironman! Start moving the rubble, Hawkeye, Black Widow, help him with the smaller bits!" 
"On it, Cap." Clint and Tony replied, Natasha just went straight to work, acknowledging their leader with little more than a nod as she did so.

Cap sprinted forward to help as well, Stark periodically shouting a warning as they went to move a piece that would send the rest tumbling. They were starting to make good progress, but the buried hero's breathing was getting worse.