Chapter 31: Recovery
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When we landed, the medical staff was quick to whisk me away. The team filed out of the plane and into the tower. Steve walked as close to the gurney as possible without getting in the doctor's way. My eyes tracked him as best as I could but I could feel my consciousness slipping away yet again. He wanted to follow them into the elevator but Thor held him back by his shoulder.
Steve tried to look past the God's broad build, worry in his eyes. Thor looked over his shoulder, waiting to see that I had made it in safely before turning back to Steve.
"We've done all we can, it's their turn now." Thor soothed.
When Steve tried to fight back he repeated his previous statement. Thor released Steve and he angrily shouted and cursed. The Captain aggressively kicked a chair, sending it across the room to splinter into pieces.
"Easy there, Cap," Tony tried to mediate, telling him to slow down.
Natasha stepped into his line of sight and held out her hand. Steve's chest rose with heavy breaths, anger growing in his eyes. Tasha slowly walked toward him, offering him some comforting words.
"Steve, we all care about her... you're not the only one who wants to break shit... but you need to calm down. All we can do is wait."
Her tone was enough to get him to think. He shook his head and wanted nothing more than to be beside me. Natasha's eyes begged him to stop and he did. Steve straightened up his poster before his shoulders dropped.
"Nat, I was finally happy, we were happy." His voice broke and his venerability began to show, "She manages to survive 4 weeks of torture just to be swept off into surgery because of a gunshot... Nat, you saw what they were doing to them... to her. She doesn't deserve that."
"I know she doesn't. She'll pull through... she always does."
She placed a hand on his bicep, telling him to take a walk with her. She ushered him down the hallway and looks over her shoulder at Tony. His face was hardened and he stared ahead at the elevator doors before pulling out his phone and walking off, Thor stood stoically with his arms crossed over his chest and having a small conversation with Clint. Barton looked the most beat up, other than Steve of course.
Bruce was talking to one of the nurses but she couldn't quite hear what. Natasha's hand ran soothing circles along Steve's arm as they rounded the corner, away from the team.
---
The bright fluorescent lights caused my eyes to immediately shut. I groaned as I heard rustling beside me. I could feel the weight of Steve's hands press down on the hospital bed. The pulse oximetry on my finger lightly pressed up against his skin. The blaring beeping coming from my heart rate monitor. This is how it felt when I first got my powers, everything was overstimulating. Loud, noisy. Steve shifted again and the movement hurt my ears.
"Stop." I whispered, "It's, it's all too loud."
My eyes stopped their rapid blinking once they focused in on Steve's worried face. His eyes looked longingly into mine.
"Water— please." I croaked.
Steve sprung to his feet and poured some water into a light blue plastic cup from a cart a few feet away. He helped me take a sip before I laid back down. He settled back into his seat, his tired frame slumped into the poorly cushioned chair.
"How long have I been out?" I asked hoarsely.
"Almost 16 hours... took you a bit to wake up from the surgery."
I nodded my head in understanding. Automatically, my shaky hand trailed up to Steve's face. My fingers lightly trailed along the side of his cheek. He sat on my right side, looking worn down as hell. A light stubble decorated his lower jaw and his hair wasn't done.
"Me amor, when was the last time you slept?" I questioned in a quiet tone. He shook it off saying he would sleep when I woke up, "I'm awake now."
He sighed, his eyes smiling and his hand reached for mine. He planted a soft kiss on my bruised skin. The pain was bearable considering that was the most physical contact we've had since I was taken. He carefully placed my hand back down beside me, never once letting it go.
"How ya feeling?"
"I feel like I've been put through the wringer... then back a few times." His face hardened and I gave his hand a minuscule squeeze, "I love you."
"I love you too."
Those words held more weight than I think either of us realized. A healthy dose of fear came along with them. I haven't allowed myself to feel that way about anyone in a very long time... but the second I felt him beneath my fingers again it was all I could say.
"You know..." I breathed out, my eyes searching his face, "This is the first time, in a while, I've looked at you and haven't known what's going on in that busy head of yours."
"I think it's better if you don't."
"Steven."
"I haven't felt that much... rage... in so long. I knew as soon as I laid eyes on that son of a bitch—" Steve bit back and I didn't respond, I would have done the same thing if I were in his shoes.
"And what happened to him?" I asked slowly, scared to hear the answer.
"He was cornered, got panicky, and injected himself with his latest concoctions."
Steve's face hardened once more and I could tell what he was gonna say next, "And it killed him?"
"Initially no, he was handling it, but his body was too weak and it killed him... so yeah he's dead," Steve sighed and looked back down at me.
"Just like that. He's gone." I stared up at the ceiling and swallowed down the lump that formed in my throat, "He's gone." I breathed out in disbelief. He's gone.
I blinked slowly and allowed the darkness to settle in. The memory of Emilio yelling at me before shooting Cooper flashed before my eyes. Cooper.
"Shit!" I huffed and tried to sit up, "Cooper— what happened to him? He-he was shot but I don't know—"
"Who?" Steve rushed to sit me back down.
"Cooper— Cooper Wadfield, went by uh— subject 130, male, mid 30's, dirty blonde hair—"
"Yeah there was a Cooper—" Steve cut off my rambling, "I think... he was in critical condition, had to be airlifted to a local hospital like you but I haven't heard anything on the others we saved." Steve slowly pushed me back down, "He'll be alright. Just relax, please." I nodded my head and tried to calm my spiking heart rate.
The sound of the door opening caught both of our attention. In walked Banner with a tablet in hand and his glasses sat low on the bridge to his nose.
"You're awake." Bruce spoke joyfully, "How are you feeling?"
"Alright I guess, my legs feel a bit awkward though. How many meds do you have me on?" I teased.
My light-hearted joke seemed to ruffle the boy's feathers. Banner immediately looked at Steve and then back at me warily. Bruce cleared his throat and adjusted his glasses out of habit.
"You two shared a look, why?"
"When you arrived you were tachycardia, hypotensive, and lost a lot of blood. The bullet wound to your back caused a lot of damage to your tissues and nerve cells..."
"Bruce." I cautiously spoke.
"The fact that you have feeling in them is remarkable— you know Helen should really be the one to talk to you cause this is her field of expert—"
I cut him off, "Tiny, breathe. Tell me what happened."
Bruce took a deep breath in, "Helen— uh Dr. Cho should be the one delivering this news."
"Banner if you know something, you should just tell me." I slowly pried
"Alright," he took a deep breath in to calm his nerves, "Well... The bullet missed the spine, which is a great thing, you know this."
As Bruce spoke he mirrored my X-ray images from the tablet he held to the monitor on the wall, "The damage was extensive. The bullet is still in there, we thought it was stabilized, but after further observation... we can see that it's slowly shifting. If we remove it we run the risk of paralyzingly you."
"And if we don't?" I asked, the shaking in my voice betraying me.
"You'll constantly be in pain, then we hope it won't paralyze or kill you."
"So paralysis all around— great."
"Soph-" Steve began, clearly not amused with my humor at a time like this.
"Let's remove it." I cut him off.
"Maybe this is something we should discuss further..." Steve tried again.
"No," I took a second, my mouth still a bit dry. My mind wandered back to the premonition I saw back at the bunker.
I looked at Steve and softened my expression, "I want to remove it. I've seen cases like mine before not as extreme but still. They get scared of the risks and live an entire life with chronic pain and what-ifs. That's no way to live when we have the means to fix it. If worse comes to worst I won't just lose function of my lower body, I'll become a quadriplegic. But it's a risk I'm willing to take. I can't leave it in there, I won't. I wanna remove it."
Steve's eyes flickered with concern. I could tell he was biting his tongue. But nonetheless, he relaxed his shoulders and squeezed my hand.
"Are you absolutely sure?" He worried.
lYes." I answered without hesitation, "Either way, I could end up paralyzed... I wanna go out swinging if that's the case. Can I see the scans?"
Bruce handed me the tablet and I fumbled through the files on the screen. As I did so Helen walked into the room. She offered me a kind smile before chatting with Bruce in the corner.
"You got an x-ray, ultrasound, CT, and MRI?" I double-checked with her.
"Yes, and a full neuro exam was done at a hospital before having you transferred back to the tower. The bullet didn't hit anything vital, so that's a good thing for one... we're gonna start some tissue repair on your back later today. I want to salvage as much tissue as I can. Dr. Banner says you want to go ahead with the surgery so we'll get started on the preparation for that as soon as possible. Now, regarding your knee..."
As Helen spoke, I continued to sift through my chart... reading post-op reports and trying to get a better understanding of what was going on inside me. I could feel my energy underneath my skin. It was stronger, the buzz was amplified and I could feel it coming back in waves.
"Somethings changed," I blurted out abruptly. I waved a hand over my body, "I can feel it in my bones. I've been in bad shape before, I know how much pain I'm supposed to be in right now... I'm sore yes... but not as much as I should be. Whatever drugs Emilio pumped through my system changed me. After the first few rounds of injections, my body slowly started to become immune to them. My metabolize might have increased, part of that might be due to my shields fighting the injections but I don't know for sure."
"Well, the test we will run with decipher that soon enough. I'll get a nurse in here to begin." she nodded sharply and asked if I had any questions.
"How are my vitals?"
"Everything seems to be getting back to normal levels... we're still monitoring your urine output and observing your kidneys, but it's nothing to worry about. Anything else?"
"Uh, back at the compound, they took bone marrow... without a sedative or a numbing agent— I just wanna scan for infections. Maybe get a tox screen for whatever I have in my system." I inhaled a sharp breath when a pain filled my body. I groaned and jerked slightly, "And can I get more morphine?"
"Yes." Helen answered as she typed on her tablet, "Is that all?"
"I would like to be informed about everything that'll happen to me," I subconsciously tightened my grip on Steve's hand, "Respectfully, of course, I don't want to step on anyone's toes."
"No worries, Dr. Rodriguez. Just please get some rest in the meantime." Helen gave me one last reassuring smile before leaving the room.
I tried to shift my body weight, but pain ravished my limbs. A string of curse words rang through my head and steve immediately look at me.
"Take it easy," He warned lightly.
I groaned and allowed my body to dead weight on the bed. Banner excused himself and Steve and I were left alone. I took a few seconds to just stare at the ceiling and process everything that was just fed to me. My lips parted to let a deep breath out.
"Fuck, fucking fuck shit!"
The momentary outburst was enough to leave me somewhat satisfied. With a content scoff, I allowed my arms to fall limply by my side.
"Feel any better?" Steve asked a bit startled but not surprised.
"Not as much as I hoped."
With an amused laugh, Steve carded his fingers through my unkept hair. I looked like a complete mess, but he didn't seem to mind. And at this point neither did I. Steve's loving eyes roamed my face before meeting my gaze.
"God I missed you." He whispered under his breath.
My hand instinctually moved to touch his face. The coarseness of his beard pricked the palm of my hand, the feeling unfamiliar to my skin. Seeing him with his beard threw me for a loop, I mean I've asked him to grow it out before, but seeing it was a different story. It was nice... but I don't know if it was my steve. Regardless of how he looked though I could always see it in his eyes. The vulnerability and the want for quiet in a hectic world.
He softly placed his forehead against mine. I closed my eyes, just taking a second to breathe him in. My lips grazed his before fully connecting them. I relaxed into the kiss, savoring every second of it. He softly ran his thumb across my cheek before deepening the kiss.
I hummed into his lips before breaking apart. Steve gingery grabbed my hand and placed gentle kisses on my knuckles. Instead of letting go he interlocked his fingers with my own and gave them a minuscule squeeze.
"I could feel you... when you were there... hear your voice in my head. I don't know how you did it. I just got the tiniest glance into what you could feel... the amplification of it all. I could feel them drilling into you." I felt the shift in Steve's jaw as it locked underneath my hands, "Bruce seems to think we formed some sort of mental link... since it was over a vast distance. God— all I wanted to was help you. I heard you calling out a few times... but that was it."
"I'm sorry," I admitted in a solemn voice.
A tear escaped my eyes and Steve winced. He was quick to brush it away, "It's okay. It was just another way of showing me you were still alive." He reasoned.
The smile that tugged at his lips was sad— mournful almost. Steve lowered his forehead back down to mine again before our lips connected softly. The short kiss seemed to have brought us some comfort.
---
My fingers gripped down on the sheets underneath me. I flinched and shook in my sleep. I was dreaming, or at least I thought I was dreaming. Flashes of memories filled my mind and my back arched slightly.
I hallucinated Marwin a lot during my captivity with Emilio. A part of me held on as tightly as I could to him. Even after death I still felt our connection. Marwin was the only family I could ever count on to actually be there for me. I knew he wasn't real, but a part of me wished he still was. My mind traveled back to the day he died. I had revisited it on multiple occasions. That feeling of helplessness... of not being able to help.
I was in the armory when I got a phone call. I let it go to voicemail and when I had a second to look at it I realized Marwin had called. He was being deployed into the city to help civilians on the ground. There were literally fucking aliens coming through a hole in the sky and he would be in the thick of it all.
Marwin was good at his job, a great leader, and a good soldier. I tried to call him back but all I got was his message box. I went about my business but nothing seemed right. I felt it in my gut, something was wrong. I kept pestering Maria to give me access codes to the body cams the soldiers were wearing. I jogged into the main control room, Hill standing stoically on the center pedestal.
"Hill." I barked through my teeth.
She glanced over her shoulder and huffed out a sigh. My forwardness broke her silence, "I already told you no. I'm sorry Calliope but I have enough to worry about right now and your brother isn't one of them. I'm sorry but it's the truth. He's down there doing good work. Let him."
I closed my eyes and swallowed the lump in my throat, "Maria." At the sound of her real name she gave me a second look, "Please." My voice cracked. I held out a USB and she eyes it.
Her eyes trailed up to mine and she grabbed it. The tears that welled in my eyes made it hard for me to see. She quickly plugged it into a computer and typed away. My hand came to wipe away the beads of water that began to fall.
She uploaded some data and then gave me an access code. She handed me the small device, "Don't do anything stupid, Calliope."
I quickly ran off down the hallway to grab my laptop. I found the room containing the mainframe and hooked up my computer. My hands shook and I searched the military database. I used all the hacks in the book to unlock the body cam footage. Tears fell onto the keys as the screen filled with multiple angles and shots. My eyes darted across the screen until they landed on 'Rodriguez, Marwin' and his service number.
I sighed in relief as the camera moved up and down with his steps. He was directing fellow soldiers to different positions. A bus came into view as he turned the street corner. The vehicle was tilted on its side with most, if not all, of the windows broken. My brother rushed towards the upturned bus.
In minutes his teammates and himself strategist a way to get the people inside out. After the majority of the people were safe, Marwin was the last to make sure everyone was out and out of harm's way. He climbed out of the upturned vehicle, getting ready to fall back in line. I saw as he looked up to the skies and scoffed.
"Can you believe this? Fucking aliens," he sighed, "Well I'll be..."
His head snapped to the right when a little boy yelled for help. Rubble surrounded the child and the building he was in looked like it was on its last legs.
Marwin quickly jogged towards the cowering boy and picked him up in his arms. He had a deep laceration to his forehead and dust covering patches of his small face. The boy mumbled something and I could barely hear what he said... something about his mom. Marwin's body cam looked up when he did. The cracks in the concrete above became more prominent the longer he stood under the roof.
I hoped and prayed, screaming at the scream in Spanish telling him to move, to get out, to do something rather than stand there. Marwin's chest seemed to have raised more and more, yelling for help. Two teammates of his rushed to his aid, one of them grabbing the boy. The other came to help Marwin search for the boy's mother. It only took them a few minutes to find the woman. He helped get her to her feet. With both men using their bodies to support her, they began to walk out of the rubble.
My heart raced as dust fell from the ceiling. Pieces of debris fell in chucks and they ran. Marwin almost made it out... almost. His friend and the woman made it out safely but he didn't. A hiccup escaped my chest and my body went numb. I let out a gut-wrenching cry and a blood-curdling sob.
"Rough dream?" Natasha's smooth voice questioned.
My eyes shot open and my clammy hands released the death grip they had on the bed. I cursed and lied back. My heart monitors rapidly beeped and my eyes read the machine beside me.
"Yeah." I huffed through a heavy breath.
"What about?" The redhead asked.
She lounged in the chair Steve once occupied. Her hair was pulled back and she looked relaxed. I looked up at the ceiling and relaxed my panicking heart.
"Marwin." I looked over at her and she nodded her head knowingly.
"You think about him a lot recently?"
"A lot. Whatever drugs they had in my system, it made me hallucinate him." I stared into her curious eyes and she cracked the seal on a water bottle.
"You talk to him?" She asked after taking a sip.
"Yeah... still the sarcastic son of a bitch I remember him to be." I joked.
"Sounds like someone else I know." Natasha snorted With amusement.
Her gaze fell upon me after she set her water bottle down. Her hands rested on her stomach as she kicked up her feet on the edge of my bed.
"I'm glad to have you back Calliope." She spoke earnestly. She smiled kindly before digging around in her pocket, "I thought you might want these. I've been keeping 'em safe for your return home. I'm surprised you didn't go out with them that day."
The ball chain that held my brother's dog tags hung off her fingers. I smiled and she tossed them to me. I caught them and sighed in relief. I held the metal tags in the palm of my hand and clenched a fist around them.
"I know it sounds stupid, but when I have this... it's like having him with me."
"It doesn't sound stupid at all."
"Good," I snickered, "cause if you said it was, I would have clubbed you in the face."
Natasha scoffed as I tugged the chain over my head and onto my neck, "Yeah... right, like you're in any position to make threats."
"Wanna bet, Romanoff?" I playfully warned.
A smile pulled at the corners of her lips and she tilted her head to the side, "Considering I'm the one who helped train you..." She pursed her lips as she thought, "Maybe not."
"Good choice."
---
Bruce, Tony, and Dr. Cho stood at the front of my room. Steve held on to my hand and softly brushed his thumb across my skin every now and again. Helen held her tablet close to her chest as Tony projected a hologram.
"After acquiring a sample of your DNA we used gel electrophoresis to break it down. This was your DNA before the experiments... extra macromolecules as expected with Inhumans. Now, this is yours taken today... look at how your cells are interacting with those extra macromolecules they've formed tighter bonds. When you became Inhuman, a dormant gene was unlocked. I think Emilio managed to feed off of that and push your abilities to their limits to see how they would combat invading bodies that threatened your well-being." Helen informed.
"Your cells are showing a higher rate of healing... we're gonna compare more of our tests with the ones Emilio conducted on you. To better understand what the hell they did." Tony affirmed, "We got you, kid... we're gonna figure this out."
"I know you will. Just no more poking and prodding for a while... I already blew more than one vein today and I'm tired."
"Of course." Tony immediately responded, "Whatever you need."
"I wanna run a skills lab as soon as possible... I need to see the extent of my powers, what's changed, how they've grown, everything in between."
"We can have that arranged." Bruce agreed.
"But after surgery." Helen chimed in.
"Okay," I looked over at Steve and he nodded his head, "Okay," I repeated once more.
Bruce and Helen excused themselves, but not before a few words of encouragement. I thanked them and watched as Tony eyed me.
"What's on your mind, tin can?"
Tony snorted in amusement before pursing his lips. He looked between Steve and me and sighed. His head shook from side to side and a small smile pulled at his lips, "It's just nice to have you back."
"It's nice to be back," I emphasized with wide eyes.
"What you did at the compound was a good play. I've underestimated you, Calliope." He spoke matter of fact.
A pen pointed at me from in between his thumb and pointer finger, "It took us a second to catch on to what you were up to but once we did... it was smart. Barton was the first one to think of it actually. We were scanning frequencies, but not for the ones you were omitting. Clint thought about your power set and how you'd try and use it to your advantage, which you did wonderfully might I add." Tony flashed me a grin, "You operate at two times the human body's frequency... your atoms have their own unique electromagnetic field. It's awesome. Congrats."
"Thank you?" I chuckled, "Maybe don't sound as surprised next time. You're not the only smart person in this tower Tony... as much as that might pain you to admit." I spoke with a grin
"Yeah— well I know that. I'm just saying it was a good choice. You're a smart one Calliope."
---
"Special delivery for— a pain in my ass." Clint's prideful snicker filled my ears as he walked into my room.
"Geez grandpa, you shouldn't have."
Barton held up a stuffed teddy bear in one hand. The plush animal had a deep purple ribbon tied neatly around its neck and a small card attached by tape to its stomach. A jar of peanut butter was in his other hand and he placed it on the table at the foot of my hospital bed.
"I didn't." He smiled, "Laura and the kids did."
He pointed to the jar with a frown of approval, "For after the surgery." He reasoned.
I nodded my head and made grabbing motions with my hands towards the teddy bear, "Gimme."
Clint lobbed the toy to me and I gladly caught it. I lovingly ran my hand along the brown fur before grabbing the card. While I did so Clint took a seat and waited for me to open the envelope. I pulled out bright blue construction paper folded in fourths. I couldn't help but smile at the sight of hand-drawn pictures over the front.
"Lila drew it... she said the flowers matched the ones you helped Laura plant," Clint scooted closer to me and pointed towards the illustrations all over the card, "Cooper helped her write and spell everything out."
"Aw." I inhaled a shaky breath and tried to hold back happy tears.
A toothy grin spread on my face and my fingers lightly traced the kid's handwriting. The squiggly lines were pressed deeply into the paper since they were trying hard to keep the lines straight and legible. The card read 'Get well soon auntie Callie! From your favorite sprites, Lila bug and Cooper.'
"Clint," I sighed, "this is so sweet." I wiped at the beads of water falling down my cheeks and Clint instantly grabbed my hand and squeezed it.
"Cooper overheard Laura talking to me on the phone and he said we should make a card to help you feel better. And of course, Lila insisted on drawing 'cause she is a self-proclaimed artist after all— better than Van Gogh, her words not mine."
"God I love those kids."
I opened the card and was met with stick figure-like drawings. Lila drew the family in purple ensembles and tiaras. Laura had sighed the card as well. She wrote a paragraph with encouraging words and told me to visit soon, she even sighed it as sugar plum. I sputtered out a laugh and held the card up to my heart.
"Thank you... really." I smiled and tried to form the words for my gratitude.
"Of course."
---
I loosely scrolled through my chart again. Some new stuff was added but not much. The usual chatter outside my room seemed to have grown and the sound of boisterous laughter filled the hall. Not long after, the handle on my door turned. In stepped Thor with a smile on his lips.
"Sophia!" He greeted as he walked into the room.
"Hey," I offered him a kind smile and sat up slightly, "You look chipper."
"Guess what I stole from the nurse's station." Thor wagged his eyebrows.
The big softy in front of me waved a pair of small plastic cups in one hand and two spoons in the other, "Jello!" I happily chanted.
Thor snickered as he placed the cups down on the table. He wheeled it over to lay across me and brought over a chair for himself.
"So how yah been lightning rod? It's been a hot minute."
"That It has," Thor spoke as he opened up both of the aluminum lids. He handed me the red-colored jelly and he grabbed the green for himself, "I've been better. Worried about you and the scepter's whereabouts of course."
"You missed me?" I teased.
"Of course... I didn't have anyone to gossip with," he held a closed fist up and I bumped it, "but you're here now so settle in... you missed a LOT..."