Remembrance//Book 1//CATWS and AOU

6. A Team

Walking down the sewer, Annie relies mostly on Steve. He had his arm wrapped around her shoulder, like she was incapable of walking. And he was right to hold her, Annie had been shot right above her meta leg. The pain is obviously bearable since it was her metal leg, but it was the problem of fixing the torn leg.

Natasha had also been shot, by Bucky, and was really out of it.

"GSW. She's lost at least a pint," Maria calls out.

A man replies back that he'll take her in. Annie slows her pace, looking around the area. Her hands were aching, badly, and she new exactly why. Her breathing hitches, the pain of her own metal arm collapsing making her trip on her feet. 

Her hands were springing with electricity and her leg started to break apart. It was the protocol when her metal parts were shot, trying to fix itself. Annie recalled this was something she tried to make up. Obviously, since her leg was doing the opposite of fixing itself, it didn't work. Though, her hands were more of her interest.

She theorizes that her claws are digging into the flesh of her elbow, a circuit must have burned away when Aspen had attacked her.

In a false attempt to stand on her own, Steve reaches for her hands and picks her back up. 

"Awe man," he sighs, "you got hurt too."

"I can fix it," she whispers, her vision blurring with a table and bright lights. Fear struck her heart as men came over to her with a butcher knife. Wrangling herself from Steve, she pushes him down and screams, "I can fix it! Don't hurt me!"

Annie sniffles and blindly looks around her surroundings, only seeing the bright lights and plashes of red. She cries out, crouching over herself as the knife slices though her fingers. Her vision fades, but the faces of those men, she could see their glares, mouth moving with the words: "You've failed your mission."

When the dimmer lights of the sewer area comes back into view, Steve's face is there with worry etched in every fine detail if his face. His beauty attracted Annie, her hands itching to feel if his face is real. 

Muffle voices clarify as her vision revives itself, seeing Aspen standing over Steve. "What's happening?" she says, worry in her voice. "Her...hands and legs. Oh god!"

Aspen rushes to Annie's side, picking up her now delicate and fragile hands. 

"Yeah," Steve grunts as he picks up Annie, "we need to get her to some sort of mechanic..."

"And a medical doctor, Steve," Aspen urges. "The metal is digging into her skin!"

Annie shakes her head in disagreement. "No," she groans, wiggling in the uncomfortable hold of Steve. "Don't touch my hands," she adds aggressively and yanks them away from Aspen.

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After several minutes of debates and quarrels from Annie, the doctors finally came to terms that they will not touch her hands or leg and give her a sedative around the wounds. It didn't help, but Annie knew she was safe from anyone touching her hands. 

The process of taking off her damaged hand was painful, but it was done. She handed off both her leg and hand to the mechanic for repair and allowed the doctor to stitch her wounds. 

Annie could perfectly fix her hand and leg, but given the recent circumstances, she couldn't stand on her own feet or keep a steady hand.

Her wrist had been bandaged and she was given a wheelchair to the outer areas where Nick Fury, Maria Hill, Natasha, Sam, Steve and Aspen gathered around a small table.