Christine was crying at that point and Stephen patted her on the shoulder comfortingly.
"What the..." Tony gasped. Everyone's eyes were wide and they had horrified expressions on their faces. No one spoke for a long time.
"How are you alive?" Bruce asked after a while. Stephen shrugged his shoulders and looked at the floor, avoiding eye contact.
"I shouldn't be." He said dryly.
"The fact that you were able to survive that and come out without permanent injuries is... unreal." Bruce said.
Stephen slowly looked up and stared at Bruce with a blank expression on his face.
"Who said anything about not having permanent injuries." He said. He didn't say it like a question; it wasn't one.
Dr. Palmer was running next to a stretcher, glancing back at its contents with worried, tear filled eyes.
Strange's head rolled from side to side as he was wheeled through the emergency room. Multiple, deep cuts ran over his face. The oxygen mask he was using was already filling with blood. His left eye was completely closed and had swelled to three times it size.
Doctors were screming and rushing him to the operating room. Strange's hands were visible for a split second; the were completely bandaged, but an almost black red liquid was already seeping through them.
Dr. Stranges eyes rolled into the back of his head and he fell unconscious.
"Are you gonna be okay?" Peter asked. "Are you going to die?!"
"Peter, he sitting right there." Tony gestured with his hand towards Stephen. "He's fine."
Stephen gulped and rubbed his hands together as Christine patted his back.
Strange had been moved from the operating room to another room just for patients. He was sleeping peacefully with a slight turn of his head now and then. For the most part he had been cleaned up, but some blood still sept through the various bandages on his face. His left eye was still swelled up, but it wasn't as bad as before.
Strange slowly opened his eyes and started panting, his eyes darting around for the room for something familiar.
"Hey." Christine said next to him. Strange slowly, painfully turned his head and looked at her.
"It's okay. It's going to be okay." She whispered to him. Her eyes were red and swollen like she had been crying, and the bags under her eyes revealed how little sleep she had been getting.
Stranges confused expression was quickly replaced with horror as he saw his hands. His arms where bandaged to the wrist, but instead of bandages on his hands was something much worse. A large contraption was holding many pins that were lodged deep into his hands. Deep, bloody cuts ran all over his hands, the stitches still visible. His arms were resting on soft pillows hat were dangling in the air from ropes connected to the ceiling.
"What is that thing?" Clint asked.
"It's a fixator to help heal nerve damage and torn ligaments." Stephen shrugged. He was looking out the window, refusing to look at the screen. Refusing to see those horrible things again.
"W-w-what d-did they d-d-do?" His voice shook.
"They rushed you in a chopper. But it took a little while to find you. Golden hours for nerve damage went by while you were in the car." Her voice kept cracking like she was trying not to cry.
"What did they do?!" He screamed, causing Christine to flinch.
"11 stainless steel pins in the bones. Multiple torn ligaments. Severe nerve damage in both hands. You were on the table for 11 hours."
