Steve's POV
I never heard the shot, but I saw Sarah get hit. She'd turned slightly to avoid a vent on the roof, which had caused the bullet to go through her shoulder instead of her heart, the force of the impact knocking her down. "We've got company!" I shouted as I raced out to get her the moment I realized she wasn't moving, more shots rebounding off my shield and suit. Natasha covered me, both pistols out and emptying her magazines in the direction the shot came from.
"Evans is down," she said. "GSW, possibly unconscious. Threat neutralized."
I scooped her limp body up in my arms and dashed back to the jet, covering her with my shield as best I could and praying she wouldn't get hit again when a slug rebounded off the concrete and struck her arm.
"We're in," I said as I ran up the ramp, Natasha closing it behind me as Clint lifted off, getting us out of range of the snipers. Natasha grabbed the med pack, bringing over to where I was laying Sarah down on the floor – there wasn't anyplace else to put her.
I gently pulled off the hijab she still wore, feeling the large contusion where her head had hit. I tore the fabric of her dress to get it out of the way while Natasha opened the med pack and handed me some gauze. I wiped away the blood so we could see how bad the entry wound was; blood welled out of the wound but not like a blood vessel had been hit. I breathed a little easier seeing that because I knew there was an artery very near the wound.
We rolled Sarah on her side to look at her back to see if there was an exit wound, tearing the fabric of her dress some more. Initially, all I could see was blood and torn flesh - the back of her shoulder was a mess. I could feel the panic clawing at me, but I pushed it down. I didn't have time to deal with it right now; we needed to stabilize her. I took a couple deep breaths and started carefully wiping away the blood on her back so we could see what it actually looked like.
The bullet had exited, leaving an awful mess behind. Dark ruby red blood seeped out instantly, a lot faster than I would have liked to see. If we couldn't get the bleeding under control, Sarah could lose too much before we got back to the Triskelion.
Looks like it went all the way through," Natasha said, probing the edges. "Doesn't look great, but it doesn't look like it hit anything major." Natasha said as she put a large pad of gauze on both sides of the wound and held them firmly. I tucked the hijab under Sarah's head so it wasn't at such an odd angle. She was so pale I was starting to worry.
"Talk to me, Stark," I demanded. "Tell me you found it."
"We found it," Tony replied. "Now we need to deal with it."
"Great. Do you know how to deactivate it?"
"Still working on that," Bruce said. "It's more complicated than last time."
"We've got 3 minutes left on the timer, so we were lucky to find it when we did," Tony continued. "If nothing else, I'll make Bruce eat it."
"Not amusing, Tony," I growled.
"Kidding Capsicle - just kidding; I think we've got it disarmed, but I'm taking it with me to detonate it over open water."
"Good job, Stark, Bruce. Scan it first for Fury before you blow it up. Bruce, we're coming to pick you up. Clint will tell you specifics." I heard Clint talking to Bruce, but tuned it out. Sarah was still laying on the ramp, so I was going to have to move her again.
"Natasha, if you can hold that tight for a moment, I'm going to pick her up again. She can't stay here."
"We need to keep pressure on the wound, Steve." Natasha said. "She's already bled through the gauze on the back."
"I'll hold her as soon as we get her off this ramp. That way I can keep the pressure on and you'll be free to help Clint. Bruce can look at it as soon as we pick him up." I felt Natasha looking at me searchingly, but she agreed.
"Okay. I'm not sure if the company is still there yet, so I'm going to cover Bruce until he gets in. The last thing we need right now is a code green."
I picked up Sarah and saw the blood dripping from Natasha's fingers, pooling beneath Sarah. I sat down on the bench seats at the side of the jet, sitting her up so she was leaning on my chest. I shifted so I could easily get my arms around her to hold pressure when Natasha let go. There was a good sized puddle of blood left behind on the floor, which ran down the ramp as Nat opened it up and stood ready to cover Bruce's exit. A couple seconds later, Bruce was coming up the ramp. Clint had backed up to a balcony so he could jump in.
"We got it disarmed. The signal disappeared as soon as we deactivated it and we didn't see signs of any more. I'll have Fury call Jalaal in a little bit." Bruce was taking off the jacket and tie and rolling up his sleeves. He found a pair of gloves in the med pack and came to look at Sarah's wounds. I felt the jet jump into top speed as Clint and Natasha took us home.
He peeled back the gauze on top of the wound and I held the flashlight he handed me so he could look at it. He leaned her forward and looked under the gauze on her back and put more on top of the soaked pad.
"At least it went all the way through. It looks like she'll need stitches at the very least and a good cleaning out when we get back to Shield."
"Can you take that bullet out of her arm? It ricocheted off the concrete and hit her."
"Yes, now that I've see the worst of her injuries. Just keep her elevated and hold pressure on that one like you have been." He dug through the kit, coming up with a pair of tweezers and wiping them with antiseptic. "Did she lose consciousness before or after you moved her?"
"Before – I think she hit her head when she went down."
"I'll check that in a moment," he said, resting her arm on his leg to get at the bullet. It must not have been in very far because he had it out in less than a minute and was wrapping her arm with gauze. "Hmm, that was larger than I expected. If this is the size that went through her, she's lucky it didn't hit her brachial artery. It can't have missed it by much."
I watched as Bruce carefully touched the head, probing the base of her skull before laying her head gently back on me before checking her eyes with his flashlight.
"She's got a good sized goose egg from the impact and a moderate concussion." He sat back in the seat across from us. "How did it happen? It had to have been right after she left us inside."
"Sniper." I shook my head, careful not to jar her. "I didn't see where it came from but Nat took a few shots."
"I hit someone," Natasha said, "but he wasn't alone. I couldn't tell who he was working for; he was pretty far away. They didn't really open fire until Steve was drawn out, though. They were after bigger fish than her."
"I think that bigwig you talked to was probably really his original target, based on the trajectory," said Clint. "He could have easily wiped him from where Nat hit that guy. A full wall of glass, a desk that backs it, lone target – child's play."
"And the bomb would cover up the assassination," Natasha said. "No one looks for bullet wounds when a building falls on them."
"Open the hatch; I'm hitching a ride," said Tony. Clint backed off the speed slightly and cracked it open long enough for Tony to slip in and shut it again, returning to cruising speed.
Tony's armor opened up and he stepped out, avoiding the puddle of blood on the floor. He came to sit next to us and put Sarah's legs on his lap. "She's going to be okay, right?"
"Yeah," Bruce answered. "Minor wound to the arm, concussion and one that we need to clean up when we get home. Went straight through her right shoulder."
Tony let out a deep sigh. He'd clearly been worried – was still worried, which puzzled me. They'd only talked a couple times at Shield and neither one acted like they were more than teammates. He thought for a moment before saying what was weighing on his mind. "You know, when she first showed up, I didn't know what to think. Peggy Carter was one of my dad's best friends, surprisingly enough."
"Hardly surprising to me, Tony. Howard adored Peggy; she kept him on the straight and narrow."
"They founded Shield together and she came to dinner a lot to talk about stuff with my dad and told me Captain America stories before bed." He glanced at me with a self-depreciating smile. "Aunt Peggy was the only family I had left after my parents died...I know Sarah isn't Peggy, but in a strange way, I kind of feel like she understands me, sees the real me." He hesitated, taking a deep breath, and finished his thought. "I almost feel like I'm being given more time with her; a second chance to make her proud of me."
I closed my eyes and leaned my head back for a moment, processing what Tony was telling me. "Same here, Tony, same here," I finally said, opening my eyes and meeting his.