Thank you to demon_griff for an idea for some of my plot going forward! It was an amazing idea and, I think, made the last section of my book so much better 😊
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Walking through the compound now, it was evident new cameras had been set up. At least two sat in every corner, one old, one new, and not a single area was unwatched.
As Sarah tucked the last wire away Bruce called her into the next room.
"Hey Sarah we were wondering if you could help look for the lost footage, we still need it to figure out who they are".
She was exceedingly happy someone had asked for her help so she got to work immediately.
After some time Bruce noticed she wanted to speak but seemed to not say anything.
"What is it you wanted to ask?"
She looked shocked but quickly recovered and asked her question.
"Umm, so if my dad had a sister, Wanda, and she's basically your family..." she looked down but luckily Bruce knew what she was going to say.
"Yes" he smiled, "welcome to the family".
He squeezed her shoulder and went back to work, typing at the keyboard. And Sarah smiled to herself before joining.
The day went by slowly and the anxiety in the building rose as the day went on but no one commented on it.
Everything felt too calm than it should have been which had the opposite affect and made everyone nervous.
The kids all wanted to ask if there was something wrong but they weren't sure if they wanted an answer. So instead, they kept busy by doing small jobs around the compound.
Bruce however was getting worried. Your temperature hadn't gone down and the antibiotics seemed to have no affect on your wound, which was now a deep red and slightly swollen.
Your dads knew it wasn't good but didn't ask Bruce as he kept giving you medicines.
"Ok these will help with the inflammation" he smiled tightly before leaving.
Tony appeared from a side room and dragged Bruce away.
"RIGHT, we need to talk!" He sounded angry and tense as he looked at Bruce.
"Everyone is on edge! Everyone is worried and we don't even know why! We should be finding who did this so we can stop them! Where the hell have you been?!"
Bruce looked at him and shook his head, replying with just as much vigour. "Where have I been?! I've been looking after y/n! Who, by the way, you haven't spent much time with since she's been back!"
Tony scoffed, "oh really?! That doesn't even matter if they come back and take her AGAIN!!! We need to be focusing on them and not her!"
"Are you an idiot?!" Screamed Bruce. "Have you not seen the amount of antibiotics I'm putting in her?! Do you not think that might be something to worry about?!"
"It doesn't matter if she isn't here!"
"YES IT DOES!" Bruce screamed, reaching a new level of anger.
"Oh yea?" Hissed Tony, "what could be more important than making sure they don't come back?"
"She could lose her arm!" Bruce shouted, stepping forward.
They both stopped for a second as Tony heard what the other man said. "What do you mean?"
"I mean, her cut is infected! It's not healing! It's getting worse and she's showing signs of sepsis!"
Tony asked again quietly, "what does that mean?" Even though he knew the answer.
"If it doesn't heal, then we need to amputate it before the infection spreads around her body and kills her".
Tony sighed and sunk to the floor, leaning against the wall with his head in his hands.
"Ok. So y/n was kidnapped and brought back and we don't know why or by who. They outsmarted me and you, and my technology and we don't know when they'll be back. Y/n is going to lose either her arm or her life. Bucky especially, is not going to be happy about either option. We've got a building full of our kids and one of them is Wandas lost brothers daughter. And she has powers. Have I missed anything?" He asked Bruce as the other man also sunk to the floor.
"I have no idea. I can't keep up with everything".
They looked to the floor with their heads full of information. It was too much for even them to process.
"You know it would be easier if others could help us figure things out" said Bruce, but Tony just laughed.
"Yea? Like who? Steve and Bucky don't need anymore to worry about unless it gets to that point. We can't tell the kids and Clint's looking after them. If we tell him they'll notice somethings wrong. They've already noticed something, why do you think they've kept themselves so busy".
"And the other three say they might not be back for three days" Bruce added. "What about Thor?"
Tony shook his head, "I've tried, he's on some mission on a random planet. No one can contact him. Plus I don't think that would really help our problems but create more". They both chuckled without smiles.
After a minute they got up from the floor and took a breath. "You just focus on y/n and be doctor. I'll keep working on finding out who they are with Sarah's help and the others can do anything else that needs doing, like setting up more security. The Sarah, Wanda, pietro thing can wait until the others are home".
They agreed and walked out, going separate ways.
Bruce had tried a different antibiotic but it still didn't help so he did another blood test, in the hopes it will say something different. Something that could help.
You lay in the same bed but by yourself. Your dads sat on chairs either side as you were too hot to hug them.
Bucky held a cold towel over your head and every few minutes put it back in a bowl of cool water. You had a mild fever that warmed up the rag fairly quickly and was starting to worry everyone.
You didn't have the energy to do anything other than stare at the tv, although you weren't really sure what was going on there either. You drifted in and out of sleep and occasionally woke up with more nightmares that left you slightly hotter each time.
Until early morning the next day Steve and Bucky noticed you got suddenly worse after a bad nightmare. You screamed for a long time before calming down and then your entire body shook with shivers and you stopped responding or making eye contact altogether.
They called for Bruce who came running in dressed in pyjamas. You'd probably disturbed him from the only, little sleep he's been getting.
"Shit" he said running over. "Shit!" he said again after checking your temperature.
"She's too hot we need to cool her down now!"
They carried you to the bathroom where Bruce filled it with warm water.
"Doesn't it need to be cold?" Asked Steve but Bruce shook his head.
"No we don't want her to get hypothermia. It'll feel cold to her either way".
They lifted you in and you made small noises of complaints but was too weak to do much more.
A few seconds later Tony came in, also looking like he'd just woke up. "I thought I heard screaming is everything ok?"
He saw you in the bath and grew immediately concerned, "what's wrong?!"
They explained the fever and sent him to get different medicines, which he came back with within minutes.
Bruce fed you something to cool you down and monitored you very closely, taking your temperature every few seconds.
It eventually went back to a mild fever but didn't seem to get any better after that. Bruce took the bandage off to see your hand.
It had suddenly got a lot worse and now small streaks of red stuck out from the wound and looked double the size it should have been.
Bruce looked to Tony who stared wide eyed back.
"Ok let's get her dried and back on the bed", Bruce said as calmly as possible. He needed to tell your dads but preferably in a larger space where it was easier to run away if he had to, he was so glad Tony was here to help.
They lay you down in dry clothes but kept the blankets off. You still shivered and moved slightly but that was the only indication you were awake.
"Why isn't she getting better? There's got to be something you can do!" Steve pleaded desperately as he stared down at you.
"Actually.. um. There's something we need to talk about" Bruce started as the men looked up.
Steve thought the worst and felt completely numb as he waited for Bruce to say something.
"The cut on her hand isn't healing and it's infected. It's suddenly got a lot worse and judging by the fever and fatigue it needs to be dealt with now. We need to amputate it before it spreads". He finished and waited by them to answer. Bucky clenched his jaw and looked angry whilst Steve looked slightly relieved.
"If she has this operation, she'll be ok?" He asked and Bruce nodded.
"Most likely yes. It's really the only option but it has to be done now".
Suddenly Bucky lunged at Bruce, "you can't take her arm!!" He screamed. Tony and Steve tried to grab him but Bucky was holding on tight with his metal arm.
"SHE CANT BE LIKE ME!" He shouted again. "THEY CANT TAKE THAT TO!!!"
Tony was slightly confused by whatever the man was shouting but was trying to get him off Bruce who now had a slight green shade to him.
Suddenly the kids appeared at the door with shocked faces and Clint close behind. As soon as he saw the scene he ran forward to join the others in getting Bucky away.
"THEY CANT RUIN HER LIFE!"
Tony had to call in his iron hands for extra strength, "just stay calm Bruce, we got this".
They managed to separate them but Bucky was still struggling and the men were finding it hard to hold him.
The kids ran over to Bruce to make sure he was ok and ensure he didn't turn a darker shade of green.
Bucky broke free of their grasp and lunged again but this time they wrestled him to the floor. Peter and cooper ran over to join them and eventually Bucky was sat on the floor with Steve behind him, Tony holding the metal arm and the others were holding his legs and chest.
"Buck just listen to me!" Steve shouted, "she's ok, they haven't got her, they won't get her".
He started to struggle less but his eyes were still unfocused. "Buck" Steve said gently now. "She's ok, can you tell me what's wrong!"
Everyone waited as Bucky turned to look at you asleep and shivering in the bed. "They're taking hers to", he croaked out.
Everyone except Steve and Bruce were confused so didn't say anything.
"They aren't taking it" reassured Steve. "She got hurt and Bruce is going to fix it. It'll be different this time".
"But she'll be like me" Bucky tried again.
"She already is like you. You're a good person and so is she. Your arms don't change that. You lost your arm and Hydra replaced it. She's going to lose hers but Bruce and Tony will replace it. That part of you was created by Hydra, and she was created from you. No matter what you think, the circumstance's are different and she won't have to go through what you did".
Bucky had small tears in his eyes but he'd stopped struggling. "Are you going to be ok if we let you go?" Asked Steve and he nodded.
Slowly, the boys let go of him and as promised, didn't move.
"Can I come and check you?" Asked Bruce quietly.
Bucky agreed and sat still whilst the doctor crouched down and shone a light into this eyes.
"I'm really sorry Bruce".
"I know. It's ok" Bruce said sincerely.
After everyone seemed ok Bruce came to check on you. He tested your temperature and turned around. "We need to do this now, if we wait her temperature could go up again and it'll be too late for the surgery".
This time everyone nodded and didn't say anything. Clint helped Steve get Bucky up and they all left after giving you a kiss on the head.