Sam: Imprisoned (Book 3)

Against Medical Advice

  "There were no complications but we'll have to see by tomorrow how she's doing. That will give us a good estimate on when she can go home," the voice replied. It was unfamiliar and sounded like it was coming from the back of my head. It was hard to pinpoint anything that was going on and when I tried it just made my head spin harder. So I took a moment to listen around me. There was a constant beeping beside me and a low murmur of conversation from far away.
  After what felt like forever, a gentle, more feminine voice commented, "I'm going to go grab us some coffee."
  There were heels against tile flooring then the sound of a door closing. No matter how confusing it was, I forced myself to concentrate so I could wake up. Slowly, I began to get a slight feeling in my hands. I felt the soft bedsheets from under me. Then the feeling traveled through my whole body but I still felt numb. Finally, I forced myself to blink my eyes open. At first, the light was blinding but I squinted and soon adjusted.
  Eventually, I could observe the room around me. There were beeping machines beside me, other medical equipment around me, a hospital bed underneath me. I was in a hospital room. My vision wavered for a little bit but I finally focused on the man beside me. He turned away from the door with one of his hands massaging his eyelids and the other on his hip.
  Fortunately, he turned to me and noticed that I was awake before I would've had to try and say something. I didn't even have to speak to realize how hoarse my throat felt.
  After stepping to the side of my bed, he asked, "Are you okay, Sam?"
  While lifting up my own arm and rubbing my forehead, I nodded and replied, "Yeah, but it feels like I can't keep my head on straight."
  Tony dipped his head and admitted, "That's probably the painkiller."
  "Are you okay?" I wondered before realizing what I was saying. I guess it wasn't a totally dumb question because he looked stressed out and maybe I could help him out, somehow.
  "Me?" Tony inquired with complete confusion written on his face. Fortunately, he didn't question it again because we both assumed that I was just loopy from the drugs. "I guess I'm not... I'm so sorry about not answering. You could've been killed and hands down that would've been on me."
  With a shrug, my index finger and thumb fiddled with the pillow that was under my head. "But I'm okay... And, if it makes you feel better, I forgive you. I was using a different phone and I forget how much of a busy man you are-"
  "That doesn't make it okay," immediately, Tony defended his point.
  My head was starting to hurt again so I peered out of the window and noticed how dark it was. I must've been out for a long time. Even though I slept for a while, I could still feel sleep wanting to take over. However, I ignored it for now as I continued the conversation with Tony, "The point is that everything is fine. I'm okay... for now."
  Calmly, Tony sat down on the chair that was beside my bed. This made us more eye level with each other as he spoke, "I'll stop him, I promise."
  My lips melted into a small pout, "Not without me, please."
  A flicker of a smile flashed across his expression as he nodded, "Fine. But you have to get some rest first."
  Except, resting wasn't a priority for me right now, "I still have a few things I need to do..."
  "Like what?" Stark wondered.
  "Like calling Cassie for one... I need to order some guy a new phone and it would be great if my technology was un-bugged," I hinted.
  "I'll deal with your suit and your phone. I guess the equipment needs an upgrade in its firewall," Tony admitted. Then he pulled out his phone and set it down on the bed that I was resting in, "Call Cassie. And do whatever else you need to do. I'll be right out there."
  After nodding my head, I murmured, "Thanks, Tony." Then I watched as he stood up and trekked out of the hospital room. When he closed the door, I picked up the phone and dialed Cassie's number. I had been worried about her ever since she texted me earlier this afternoon. If anything happened to her, I was so going to kick someone's coccyx.
  "Hello?" a voice chimed from Tony's cellphone.
  "Cassie! Are you okay? What happened? Do you need rescuing? Because you know I'll be there!" I exclaimed, a protective side of me coming out.
  This got a confused pause from my friend, "What? No... Why?"
  With a quick sigh of relief, I confessed, "Those soldiers at the apartment... You sent me a text. Where are you?"
  "I'm crashing at Derrick's place tonight. Those soldiers came knocking on my door and said something about a terrorist threat so they needed my phone. They told me I had to leave and go stay with someone else so I just went to Derrick's place," Cassie explained, making my shoulders wilt in relief. "We're on the couch watching movies! You should come over, Sam. We have popcorn, candy, soda. The full nine yards!"
  A smile danced across my face to know that she was safe and having a great time but I had to decline - for obvious reasons, "I can't... Maybe some other time."
  "Alright... I'll catch ya later, Sam!" Cassie exclaimed before hanging up the phone.
  Honestly, I was relieved that she was okay. Now all I had to do - for now - was pick out a phone for that one dude. Hopefully, I remembered his address. So I went onto the internet on Tony's phone and looked through nice phones. I didn't want to get him some crappy phone like he had prior to me taking it. Besides, it would be a great apology gift for causing soldiers to bust up in his apartment. And I pinky promised!
  Before I could actually find a phone, the device in my hand began to buzz. I peered at the screen and noticed that someone was trying to call Tony. Deciding to answer it for him, I pressed the button and responded, "Stark's phone, this is Sam. How may I help you?"
  There was a chuckle on the other end before a familiar voice replied, "Glad to see you're doing well, Sam."
  The voice instantly sent chills up my spine when I recognized it, "Terrain?... Well, no thanks to you."
  With a hum, he mused, "Good to know you remember my voice."
  "It's great for conversations like this. Now, why were you calling Tony?" I snapped.
  Another chuckle escaped the phone as he admitted, "I wasn't calling for Tony. I was calling for you, Sam."
  Although, this didn't make any sense to me, "But you-...? My phone doesn't work... How did you know I was using his?"
  "You're always so clueless," Terrain purred before explaining, "I know a lot of things that you don't realize. Like I know you're using Tony's phone. I know which hospital room you're in. I know that Tony is in the cafeteria, looking for Pepper. I know Steve is in the waiting room. And I also know how close you guys are to finding me. Why did you think I needed the distraction?"
  Suppressing a gulp at his words, I pondered, "What do you want?"
  "Time," was his simple response. "Tell Tony to back off or else someone's going to get hurt. You're lucky your friend was okay. Should I flip a coin and see who's next?"
  "No! F-fine... I-I'll tell him..." I stammered.
  Terrain ended the call with, "You'd make a great assistant for Stark. Now I should be going. I'm a very busy man these days."
  As soon as the line went dead, I slipped off of the bed and staggered for the pile of clothes on a nearby chair. However, the cords that were hooked up to me tugged for me to stop. I just yanked them out of me with a wince and continued to the clothes. Immediately, when the clothes were on me, I left the hospital room into the hallway.
  The building was very confusing because I didn't know exactly where to go but I followed the signs that were decorated around the halls. So I followed the signs to the cafeteria where Pepper and Tony were supposed to be. My heart was pounding in my chest - was Terrain really spying on us? I guess it wouldn't be that outrageous but to threaten me was too far. I knew I didn't want him to hurt anyone but that didn't mean that I had to tell Tony. That meant that we were going to have to speed the process up of finding him.
  When the cafeteria came into view, I found my pace quickening. Fortunately enough, I noticed Tony standing next to Pepper while they chatted about something. Both of them had coffee in their hands but their facial expressions were hard to read.
  However, I didn't worry about that for long because as soon as I reached them, I claimed, "We need to leave."
  This got a very confused expression from Tony as he stared at me with bewilderment, "What are you doing out of bed?"
  "No time to explain. We need to go," I repeated.
  "What happened? Is everything okay?" Pepper inquired, her eyebrows narrowing in worry.
  "Everything's fine," I insisted. "But we need to go. Like now. Please."
  Tony wasn't convinced as he crossed his arms to show how serious he was, "Sam, if something is wrong, you need to tell me. What happened?"
  Refusing to confess, I dodged the question, "Nothing. You know I hate hospitals. Now we need to leave!"
  "Absolutely not," Stark shot down the idea with his arms crossed. "You're not supposed to be out of your bed and you could hurt yourself-," except he paused to peer down at my arm and cursed, "Dammit Sam! What is the matter with you?" Before I could ask what he meant, he grabbed my arm and lifted it up to show a small trail of blood sliding down my hand from where I ripped the cords out.
  In response, I shrugged and defended, "Okay, I watch too many movies. Completely my fault." Then a point slipped in my mind as I pointed out, "But wouldn't it be safer at the Avengers' compound rather than here? I mean my suit doesn't even work!"
  Fortunately, Tony paused to think about the idea. There was no point in arguing with me because I was so stubborn - and he knew that. So, finally, he sighed and muttered, "We're talking to the doctor first."
  "Wait here, I'll go find the nurse or someone," Pepper offered as she jogged out of the cafeteria.
  This left Tony and I alone but I didn't really know how I felt about that. Even now, his gaze felt like it was penetrating through my soul and trying to read me. Well, this was uncomfortable. The whole time, I kept my gaze away from him and locked on to the tile flooring beneath me as I tried to keep pressure on the wound on my arm.
  Alas, Tony broke the wanted silence by inquiring, "What happened? You can't lie to me, Sam, I know something has you spooked."
  My eyes stayed on the floor as I shifted uncomfortably on my heels, "Nothing..."
  Except he didn't back down, "Did something happen in the room?"
  Maybe there was no point in hiding it. Who would I be protecting? Myself? Terrain? I wasn't going to let that happen. At the same time, I was worried that if I told Tony then Terrain would get exactly what he wanted. However, it wouldn't be hard to keep some things out of the conversation.
  Finally, I took a deep breath and divulged, "I got a call... From Terrain..."
  Shocked and even a bit concerned, Stark pried for more information, "What? What did he say?"
  With a lift of my shoulders, I shrugged it off, "He was actually just checking in on me. Great guy."
  "Sam," Tony urged, not at all amused.
  "It was just a threat, Tony," I finally managed to peer up into his eyes with a determined gaze as I snapped. "I'm not going to let him intimidate me. We're so close to finding him and he knows it. We can't waste any time staying here nursing cuts and bruizes when we can be saving people from him. Please, Tony, we have to stop him."
  After pursing his lips in thought, he finally explained, "I'll invite Banner over and maybe he can help me track Lesser's equipment. When we do that, we might be able to find him."
  A smile finally pulled at my lips, "Awesome. You think I could stop by the lab?"
  "As much as I'd like an assistant, I want you to get some rest. You can help us tomorrow," Stark mused with a gleam in his eyes.
  "I have school tomorrow," I pointed out.
  Tony rolled his eyes and stated, "You're not going to school."
  Before we knew it, Pepper came back with a nurse trailing behind her. I was forced to follow the woman into another room as the nurse cleaned up the cuts that I got from ripping the IV out of me. Note to self: don't ever do that again. It hurt and it wasn't as cool as in the movies. Once she was done checking me for anything to be concerned about, the nurse gave us a bag of prescribed meds from the doctor.
  "Just to let you know, Sam, this is against medical advice. Keep an eye on the wound and come back immediately if it opens up, starts profusely bleeding, or just feels wrong. The next day is always worse," the nurse warned. "Have a safe trip home."
  Finally, we were able to leave the hospital. We met with Steve in the waiting room and let him know that we were going to the Avengers' hideout as I had suggested. It wasn't even a question that he was going to follow us there. I was thankful that he was worried about me but it also made me feeler safer with how many heroes would be at the compound. There was no way Lesser could get me now. 

(Jeez, Sam, how many more times are you going to go to the hospital?)