Much to Toni's dismay, Vision found her in the bunker only a few hours later. She was immediately transported to the nearest hospital to be treated, the main concern at the time being her hypothermic state. It was a miracle that her brain hadn't begun to shut down by that point.
After hearing the news from directly from Vision, Pepper ran out of her interview to the airport and took the first flight out to Siberia, absolutely worried sick about Toni.
She tried her best to convince doctors she should be transported to care in the States, but they insisted that her injuries were just too extensive to be moved at this point.
In the end, she stayed by Toni's bedside, refusing to go elsewhere else until she was fully recovered, or at least woke up. It had been three days now, and Toni had still yet to open her eyes. She remained completely immobile on the hospital bed, the only sounds emitting from the room being her shallow breaths, the steady beeping of the machine she was hooked up to and Pepper's ongoing sobs.
There were small tubes running up Toni's nose, providing the nutrients she needed for her body to stabilize and recover. A few small cords slithered their way along her chest measuring her heart rate, which at this point, had finally begun to regulate. An IV also stuck ou of her right arm, a clear liquid passing through the center of the plastic cylinder.
There was also Toni's face. It was still littered with bruises of all colours, some worse than others. A few gashes along her cheeks and brow had get to heal, similar to the one across her lip, splitting it in two separate halves. Though the swelling had gone down over her right eye, it was still painted an intense black, sporting layers of blue and purple around the corners.
Her chest was wrapped to keep her broken ribs in place. Two had snapped completely, the others only chipped and cracked in a few places. Luckily, none had punctured any organs.
Three of her figures were dressed in splints after being broken, most likely from the impact of Steve's shield upon her hand. Her nails were ripped in a couple places, though that was least of anyone's concern, they would heal fast enough.
Her left wrist was fractured in several places, a cast now holding everything in place after treatment. The nurse said it would take six weeks at most to heal over. It wasn't to severe.
And for the most part, that was the generally notion of things at this point. Though they'd change very soon.
<><><><><><><><><><>
It was now early in the fourth morning, around quarter after six. Pepper was still seated beside Toni, fast asleep. Her hand linked with Toni's right, the one that wasn't as damaged.
Each of their fingers were intwined, Pepper's squeezing lightly, praying Toni would wake up soon.
Her head rest against the back of the chair that was seated to the right of the hospital bed. A thin blanket covered her lap along with a book that lay half open in one hand, her index finger acting as a temporary bookmark. A few empty cups of coffee sat on the table beside her along with packets of sugar split open, specks of their contents covering the wood's surface making a sticky solution with the drops of cream that had been spilt as well.
Pepper was quite erratic at the moment and most defiantly was not herself. In fact, this was the furthest she'd tipped since Toni went missing almost ten years ago on a weapons deal in Afghanistan, only to come back two months later beaten to the bone. And just like before, her only true concern was Toni. Nothing else had even entered her mind since she received the news. Absolutely, nothing.
As the clock that was propped up on the wall ticked away, Toni finally began to stir. First, she wiggled her toes, counting each one individually in her head. She then did the same with her fingers, feeling light pinches of pain shooting up her hand as she did so, more so with her left than the right. She also found that movement on the latter was more restrictive.
After this, Toni shifted on the bed trying to stretch out her sore muscles that were already starting to seize up upon the sudden movement. They were practically screaming in agony, so she took it slow, targeting one muscle zone at a time until the pain subdued.
Next, was sight. Though her eyelids felt heavy, almost too much so that she was going to forget the idea of waking herself at all, she pushed the thought aside and forced them open. Bright lights immediately hit her pupils causing her to groan and blink widely. She thought about raising a hand to wipe the corners of her eyes, and was about to do so, but realized someone was cupping her one arm. Looking rather puzzled, Toni traced the touching limb up to the shoulder, the neck, and then took a glance at the persons face. It was Pepper. She immediately let out a shallow breath she didn't realize she was holding in. Pepper was with her, she was safe.
After taking a few more seconds to adjust, Toni tilted her head to the side and shifted her body over to look up at Pepper without having to put as much strain on her neck.
"Hey, Pep," she whispered. Her voice came out hoarse and weak from being unused.
Pepper mumbled something inaudible under her breath, still half asleep. Toni chuckled to herself which seemed to irk her friend who was slowly waking upon the sudden noise.
"And I thought you were the morning person of the two of us," Toni continued, her tone holding all the usuel sarcasm she has, but more raspy sounding.
Upon hearing her more clearly, her brain seeming to connect the voice to the user, Pepper shot awake. She immediately turned to see Toni, moving so quickly that both the blanket and book fell off her lap clattering to the floor.
"Oh my god, Toni," she said looking frantic. "Toni, oh god... Oh god, you're— you're alright!" Pepper seemed to stumbled for words as tears of joy ran down her cheeks. "I thought I lost you! Oh Toni... You-you're an idiot!" She half laughed with a small smile, and half cried out with a hint of seriousness. "You're a complete idiot! You should have gotten yourself killed!"
Toni's lips curled slightly, she missed that joking love. When she was in that bunker, about to close her eyes for good, she was sad that she'd never experience this feeling again.
Toni may not show it often, but the way Pepper freaked out when she was worried, how her voice raising in pitch with slight anger but also relief, was something she loved about her. It just seemed comforting.
Her smile however dispersed seconds later, followed by a soft sigh. Happiness and comfort can only last so long before reality starts to sink in again. And now, she was remembering what happened, what she had done.
"Pep," Toni whispered and shook her head still looking up at her, but now with sad, guilty eyes. "I'm so sorry. I really am. I should have told you where I was going, you had the right to know." She bit her lip before continuing. "I'm sorry I didn't say anything, it's my fault you're always all worked up, running around all over the place trying to see if I'm even alive. I'm so stupid," Toni mumbled the last part, mostly to herself. There was a few moments of silence, neither knowing what to say, before Toni broke.
"God I say that a lot. All I ask for now seems to be forgiveness." Her voice dropped. "I don't understand why you've tolerated me all these years, I'm such a nuisance."
"No, Toni, don't say that. You're not—"
"Yes, I am," she said cutting her off. "I make so many mistakes, and they hurt so many people. They're hurting my family."
"Toni," Pepper said softly. "You had your intentions. You were trying to protect them."
"Yeah, but that didn't work out to well, did it?"
Pepper gave her a small smile as Toni turned away to stare up at the ceiling starting to count the greying tiles.
"Honey, you had to make a decision, and you went with what your heart said, what your morals told you.
"The Accords are important, and I for one, think you did the right thing. Some people may disagree, but that's their battle to fight, you don't need to save everyone, Toni. You can't."
She shook her head, a few tears started welling up in her eyes.
"I might not be able to, but I should at least try." She took another breath and pulled her hand away from Pepper's to wipe her tears away. "God I fucked up. I fucked up so bad."
"Toni—" Pepper started soothingly but was quickly overpowered by her friend's harsh voice.
"No. No, just stop, Pep, alright? I fucked up! Theres nothing you can say that will change that, because I made a big fucking mistake! I made the biggest fucking mistake of my fucking life!" She screamed and kicked the blankets covering her aside and swung her legs over the side of her bed, ignoring the pain that shot up her entire body.
"Toni, lay down!" Pepper said more sternly. "You are not leaving this bed!"
The brunette simply chuckled to herself and stood up. As soon as she let go of the bed, her knees buckled from under her and she collapsed to the floor.
Pepper yelped, and rushed over to the other side of the bed to help Toni up.
"Leave it alone, Pep!" She swat her helping hand away, her voiced raised as well as her anger grew by the second. "I'm fine! I'm fucking fine!"
The torn woman reached up an arm to the bed, the other on a table, not even noticing the cast, and pulled herself up. She staggered slightly, but managed to gain her balance.
"I'm done, ok?! I'm done drowning in my own guilt and doing nothing about it!"
Without giving it a second thought, Toni tore the cords from her chest, the IV out of her arm, and tubes from her nose. Pepper winced in complete shock, her face ghostly pale.
"Tones, baby—" she started and took a small step forward reaching a hand out to Toni.
"This ends now! I can't take it!"
And with that, one woman was left storming out of a hospital room barely able to carry her own weight, and the other running after her, tears slipping down her face like mad as she tried to catch up. She never did.