Destruction ━ Bucky Barnes [2]

20 ━ HOMECOMING

DESTRUCTION.
( chapter twenty.)

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STEVE COULD ONLY STARE at her— and how still she was against her hospital bed.

  After regrouping, the team rushed Andy to New York— and Henry Carver. The only man with enough knowledge on Andrea's advanced physicality and the equipment to treat her. And not even Henry knew if he could save the Jones woman.

   She was so pale, telling nothing of her condition prior to collapsing. It hurt, and made Steve more upset than he cared to admit. Or, rather, more than he could properly show.

  "We have to leave," Natasha spoke from his side, as soft and as kindly as she could.

  Steve knew it was coming; the moment where he would have to leave his best friend. Abandoning her to the care of someone he hardly knew. How many times had he not been there for her before?

  How many times was he going to leave her all alone?

  Steve wiped at the remnants of any tears on his face. "I can't leave her like this," he whispered. He was afraid that if he spoke too loudly, he would give life to that sound.

  The flatline that told them Andrea's heart was failing.

  Natasha laid a hand on his shoulder, "We can't risk anyone knowing we're here. The longer we stay, the more we put her location at risk." It was the truth, if only a harsh one.

  "She'll understand," Tony said, though he could hardly look at her face. "She always understands." The words were hardly convincing, with Stark's voice threatening to break.

  No one wanted to say it, lest they speak it into existence.

  They felt it nonetheless. The possibility that if Andy took her last few breaths and they were gone, no one would be at her side when she died. They would be gone, fleeing the wrath of the media and a murderous AI.

  How minuscule those things seemed now, in comparison to losing her.

  Henry stepped forward, "If her body accepts the antidote, I'll make sure she joins you as soon as possible."

  The antidote.

  Steve curled his fingers into tight fists. The vial Andy had been found with seemed like such a useless miracle. It was almost too late by the time they got her to the Med-Pod. After countless tests, concluding the serum safe, it was finally administered in the safety of Henry Carver's hospital.

  Andrea had flatlined multiple times since then. Whether it be because of her wounds or the antidote's strain on her body, Steve didn't really know. It only scared him.

  "I want updates every half hour," he finally said. He got up from his seat, trying to strengthen his resolve.

  Still, the Rogers man hesitated as he went to turn away. "I can't lose her, Carver,"
Steve looked at Henry, voice low, almost threatening. "Keep her alive."