I'm Iron Man, And I'm Agent Coulson

Chapter 52 I Need To Save Her

"Her shoulder's bleeding pretty bad, she needs medical attention," Sam fumed, nodding at Nat's shoulder, and broke the silence, which had enveloped the prison van for the last thirty minutes.
My eyes remained on Steve's, skirting around the knowledge I was unable to help him, as every single emotion crossed his face in minutes. Oh, but I could feel them, hurt, confusion, shock..all vying for dominance, and hanging in the air, making it harder to breathe.
I pushed my own worry for Tony aside, focusing on Steve and Barnes, while also looking for a way out.
The man Cap coveted, and loved unconditionally, was now a monster, and there was nothing any of us, least of all me, could do or say to make him feel better. The man I saw on the street, who nearly killed all of us, was no longer James Buchanan Barnes, but a well oiled killing machine, and we were next on his list.
It was still hard to believe, and my own state of shock and malcontent mixed with Steve's.
I took a deep, painful breath, and shuddered, while I quickly glanced around the small van.
I refused to accept this was the end for the four of us, but there was no way we were going to get out of here without someone else getting hurt. For a split second I gave in to the hope that Tony didn't listen to what I said, and would come for us, like he said he would, but as the minutes passed by, the darker everything began to look, and we were running out of time.
I dropped my head onto Steve's shoulder, and my eyes watered once I realized he was shaking, "hey, we'll be okay, I promise, and we'll figure out how to fix this..."

"Ah c'mon man, she's gonna bleed out," Sam groaned, lifting my attention from Steve, to the guard that was slowly getting up and flexing an electric rod.
I lurched forward, ready to fight my way in front of Nat and Sam, but the standing guard slammed the rod into the other sitting guard, shocking all of us.
My mouth dropped open when a smiling Maria Hill lifted the black helmet off her head and tossed it aside.
"Maria?" I croaked, sliding down onto the floor in front of Steve.
"Agent Hill?" Steve sputtered.

"Jesus Christ that thing was squeezing my brain," Maria snickered, shaking out her dark hair, "who's this guy?"
"Never in my life have I ever been happier to see someone," I sighed, relieved, and collapsed against Steve's knees.
"Awe, I missed you too, you goddamned psycho," she joked, uncuffing Steve and I first, then Sam, and Nat.

"Damn Cap, I don't understand how you get anything done surrounded by all these women? They're crazier than I am," Sam chuckled, moving towards Natasha, and beginning to dress her wound.
"We make it interesting," I croaked, and automatically grabbed Steve's hand, giving it a reassuring squeeze. That's all I could offer him at the moment, "where're you taking us, we need to get to SHIELD, now, and I need to call Tony and let him know what's going on."
"We'll be arriving at the safehouse in another thirty minutes, there's a doctor there who can attend to your wounds, and we can bring all of you up to speed. Luckily, Rumlow was stupid enough to have most of your stuff thrown in here with you guys. I never really liked that guy," Hill mentioned before jumping up front with the driver.

"Do you trust her?" Sam asked, lowering his voice.
"We don't really have a choice, and she just saved our ass," I wheezed, my throat was burning for water, and still sore from Bucky's metal grip.
My stomach was in painful knots, and the urge to vomit pushed at the back of throat, but I steadied my breathing after a minute and focused on the fact that we were safe for now.
I never had any reason to doubt Maria, she was very loyal to Fury and SHIELD, but so were Rumlow and Pierce.
"The only people I trust implicitly are right here in front of me, well except for you Wilson, jury's still out, and Tony," I added, as my worry for Tony only grew as the seconds passed by, but I was worried about all of us, and the wound in Nat's shoulder.

"She's SHIELD boys and girls, just as much as I am," Nat lamented, and leaned on Sam. Her skin was paler than usual, and her eyes drooped with concern, and confusion, "Steve I'm so sorry, I didn't know. we didn't..."