Avengers Oneshots

Steve Rogers oneshot: Don't leave

This is a request for @WriterGirlme

It was the pure mayhem at the hidden factory somewhere in a lost region of Russia. Robots, all looking like Iron Man, just in a black and silver colour were running or flying around the already half destroyed area in front of the huge concrete building, trying to defend it according to their programming against the group of intruders. This group consisted out of Tony Stark in the original Iron Man suit, Natasha 'Black Widow' Romanoff, the Asgardian God of Thunder Thor, Steve Rogers alias Captain America and Nikhad or for short just Nik, who hasn't chosen a or be given a special Name just yet.
The members of the Avengers had decided to pay this factory a visit because data and construction papers had been stolen from Tony's system, resulting not only in the doubles they were just fighting but also in groups of Iron Man copies to terrorize cities all around the world. They were there to get back what was stolen and to destroy whatever is already produced, while the rest of the team was busy getting rid of the fake Iron Men.

Flanked by Steve and Thor, Nik ran towards the army of robots, coursing on her inside that it was hard for her to move in the still stiff leather suit she had been given but it had to do right now. When she reached the first robot, she placed her hand on it and pulled the energy from it until it was empty and grumbled on the ground, then she used the collected power and pumped it in the next robot, overloading its system.

Having been experimented on together with the twins Nik was able to emit and absorb energy. By absorbing she was able to drain every battery, electrical device or even neutralize Thor's lightnings and store it inside of her. With Emitting she either was able to create an explosion by pushing everything out or when more controlling, create shields or give her punches and kicks some extra force. And of course, she was able to charge mobile phones by just touching them, something Tony was very fond of.

"Nik, watch out!"
The call caused her to look up from where she just was draining another opponent to see that an Iron clone was about to send a aim at her head. She stumbled back and instinctively release some of her power in a blast. The metal man was pushed back, before a familiar shield hit its neck and removed the head. The next second Steve stood beside her and offered his hand.
"You all right?"
Nodding, Nik took his hand and allowed him to pull her to her feed.
"Just a little caught off guard"
The captain did use a little too much strength, so Nik found herself against his chest, her free hand resting right above his pectorals. She blushed lightly and tried to pull back, but Steve caught her by her shoulder and stopped her movements. His other hand remained tightly wrapped around hers.
"Be more careful"
His words were stern but not harsh and with a warmth hidden underneath them. The same mixture he was carrying in his gaze as Nik lifted her head to meet his eyes.
"I don't want you to get hurt"

His closeness and warmth, his urgent words, this all caused her heart to pick up speed and made her feel all fuzzy inside. For a second, she forgot that they still were in the middle of a fight, but only until one of Thor's lightnings caused an explosion near the factory.
She forced her mind back to reality, then nodded with a determined expression.
"Let's get this done"
Steve smiled at her and for one second, she allowed herself to indulge at the sight, before she concentrated back at the task at hand.

Waves after waves of robots she alternately drained or overloaded, while Steve used brute force, and Thor simply blew them up. Tony was hunting them in the skies and Natasha had sneaked inside the factory to retrieve the data.
Finally, Steve pushed his shield in the last Iron Man standing and all of sudden a strange silence lingered in the air, but not for long.
The rotors of a helicopter were heard and as they looked up one was just hovering above the battle field. One of the door was pushed open and a man pushed a medium-sized, black box out, then they flew off, probably to escape the already attacking Tony. Beware the fury of a man who's ego had been hurt.
Nik jumped back as the box landed not far away from her. A curse escaped her when the outer case burst open to reveal an uncomfortable collection of wires and metal.
"It's a bomb!"
She informed her comrades via their intercom and were greeted by different curses, similar to her own before. Even Steve let a 'damn' slip.
"Stay back! I will take care of the explosion"
Kneeling beside the bomb, she removed as much of the surrounding metal box as possible and placed her hands on the device.
"Nik, are you sure you can handle this?"
The connection was getting worse as she started to activate her powers and Steve's voice was hard to understand, yet still she was able to hear the worry and uncertainty in his voice. It made her feel warm in her stomach to know he cared and made her even more determined to master this.
She began to draw the energy from the electronic parts, hoping she would be able to dry it out before the bomb even would detonate.
"There is no other way. This explosion is surely meant to destroy this whole area and you we won't get out in time"
A portentous clicking sound told her that her efforts hadn't been enough, so she prepare herself to suck in the energy that would be freed by the explosion. Her thoughts had been right about the destructiveness of this bomb. The amount of freed energy was huge, bigger than anything she had absorbed at once before.
"Steve, I l-"
Before she was able to finish, she realized that the connection was lost and that she had to concentrate on what she was doing. The pressure of the explosion was trying to push her backwards, but she forced the energy to float into her body, first just through her hands but as the energy was rising through her whole front. That she couldn't control it as well anymore, but she was able to neutralize more of it at once.
She didn't know how long she was kneeling there and absorbing the never-ending energy that left this bomb. It was like time and stopped and that the world beyond this hue of whirling powers around her simply didn't exist anymore.
Eventually, she felt the pressure lesson until nothing was left and the only thing that reminded of the stopped explosion was a circle of ash surrounding the panting woman.
Nik straightened up again shakily and took some deep breath while trying to calm the energy inside of her, but it had been so much. Her body was vibrating, and her skin was glowing on different spots.
"Shit"
She couldn't hold it and there was nothing around her to release the power, but if she couldn't it would free itself in the big explosion, she had tried to neutralize.
"Nik, you all right?"
The sudden voice startled her and as she turned, she found Steve looking at her with a worried expression. When he took another step, she threw her hands in the air to stop him.
"Don't come near me!"
Steve froze startled and fear was rising inside him as he watched the glowing under her skin intensify and her eyes glimmering way too bright toxic green. Nik was breathing heavily and sweat was running down her body with the force she had to use to keep herself together.
"It was too much, Steve. The Energy. I need to get rid of it controlled or I'll simply explode"
The blue eyes of the supersoldier widened and as Nik turned to run, je jumped forward to catch her wrist. He wouldn't just let her go that easily. There had to be something that they, that he could do.
"Wait! What will happen to you when you do this"
His heart thank as she shook her head "I don't know. It depends on how much force there is, but I need to get away or you and the other will be hurt"
She tried to free herself, but Steve wasn't willing to let go. Never again did he want to lose a person important to him "Isn't there another way. If we get something you can divert-"
"THIS TAKES TOO MUCH TIME"
The energy was pressing against her barriers and Nik started to panic. If she couldn't get away right now, she wouldn't be far away to keep the others save. She didn't care what was happening to her but being the cause of the others pain and especially injuring Steve was a thought that she couldn't take. Tears were streaming down her face and her voice was shaking
"I'm sorry"
She release a little bit of energy through the hand Steve was holding. It didn't hurt him, but it was enough force to throw him backwards and she took this chance to ran off. With every step she took, she set free a little bit of power through her feet to push herself off harder and gain more speed.
Her name was called after her, but she just shook her head and force herself forward.
Trees were rushing past her in a green and brown blur but suddenly they were gone. Nik stopped and looked around to find yourself in a wide area with nothing but rocks and dirt. Perfect.
She closed her eyes and concentrated on her insides. The energy was raging inside her as a wild flame that was striving outwards. Grasping this energy, she spread it over her whole body to lessen the pressure on a single part and pushed it out.
The ground crumbled underneath her, stones disintegrated, and the air was shimmering with heat. Nik cried out in pain as the energy raged through her body.

Steve heard the cry and pushed himself forward. Though he had taken off right after he had been back on his feet, she had been already out of sight. In another situation he would have been impressed, but right now it was scaring him to no end. Fortunately, he was able to track her down quite easily since she had left black footprints along her way, burned into the ground by the vigour inside her.
"Steve, are you sure that you want to go after her?"
Natasha's voice echoed through the intercom. She sounded tensed, worried and a little out of breath, still having fought when the conversation between Steve and Nik had happened.
Steve had informed the rest of the team while hunting after Nik.
"My sensors note a rise of the energy level south from here. Steve it's too dangerous to run right in there"
Steve knew that Tony was probably right, but he couldn't stop himself from running, his heart was pushing him forwards.
"I can't just leave her alone with this"
"But what if-"
The connection suddenly broke and Steve could feel a pressure in the air and the temperature rising.
"Nik!" he cried out as he left the woods but the only thing he could see the vague outline of a person in the middle of ball of light. With one arm up to shield his eyes he tried to get closer but in that second the ball burst open and he was thrown backwards by the shockwave. He grunted as he hit a tree and with his last strength, he rolled behind it to escape the heat and pressure that was following.

Nik fell to her knees after all the energy had left her. She felt sore and weak, her skin to hot and tight on her body but else she was fine. She looked down at her hands that finally had stopped glowing, then slowly forced herself in a standing position.
Footsteps behind her caught her attention but as she turned a shriek escaped her. Steve stumbled out between the burned and partly fallen trees. His suit was ripped and the skin that was shining through was an angry red but as he saw the woman standing a smile lightened his features.
"Oh god, Steve!"
Nik felt like crying, knowing that she had caused those burns and they had to hurt like hell, supersoldier or not. Yet, the smile on his face never faltered while he stepped forwards, holding onto the trees for support. She was alive.
Climbing out of the crater, she had created, she ran towards him or at least tried, worn out as she was. Up close he looked even worse, the skin was bloody, and blisters were already building.
When he saw her coming towards him, Steve slumped down and leaned against at trunk. Nik fell on her knees beside him and took in his injuries. She wanted to touch him, but her hands just hovered aimlessly over his body. There was just so much burned skin.
"I'm so sorry"
"It's ok. As long as you are fine"
His voice sounded strangled, but his eyes were shining happily, yet as he lifted his arm to touch her, he flinched back in pain. Tears were streaming down her face. She felt so helpless right now.
Muffled voices sounded from somewhere not to far and as she looked around, she realized that it was coming from Steve's intercom, her own had been broken during the explosion.
Carefully she removed Steve's helmed and took his headset to wear it herself. What she heard was the mixed voices of their comrades, who demanded to know what had happened and if you were all right.
"This is Nikhad speaking"
The voiced immediately died down as they heard her. Tony was the first one to speak.
"Nik? Are you all right? What happened? Where is Steve"
"I'm fine so far. But Steve-"
She took a shaky breath, her voice about to break "Steve is injured. The explosion hit him. We need to get him back as quick as possible"
"We're on our way"

And there were. Not soon afterwards the Quinjet landed beside them on the destroyed clearing and just a few minutes later they were on your way back to New York. Steve's head was resting on Nik's lab who kept wiping his forehead with a wet cloth. He might be genetically modified, and he would heal quickly and without anything staying back but she knew tat he was in pain and it was her fault.
The plane was silent as everyone was sleeping after the mission, the only thing audible was the sound of the engine and a silent weeping.
Nik was trying to keep her whining down, not wanting to disturb her comrades and especially Steve in their well deserved rest, but whenever she looked at his ravaged body, she couldn't stop the tears.
If she had better control over her powers or had been stronger this hadn't happened and now Steve was injured because she was a failure.

A gentle hand on her cheek pulled her from her thoughts and as she looked down, she met blue eyes.
"Don't beat yourself up because of this"
Steve wiped the tears of her cheeks and she took his hand in hers.
"But it's my fault"
His grip on her hand tightened and he shook his head
"It was my own choice to follow you, though you warned me to not do so. You did your best to keep everyone save"
"If only I were stronger-"
"And if I were born in Toronto, I would be Captain Canada"
The completely absurd insertion had the exactly the wished effect and Nik was brought out of her depression for at least a second and left stunned.
"What?"
She blinked but couldn't help chuckling a little at that thought.
"All I'm saying. What done it's done and it's not your fault. The most important thing is that you are fine, and I will be back on my feet in a few days"
Not really convinced but at least a little calmed, Nik nodded at leaned back to relax her worn out body.

Back in the tower Steve was brought to the sick bay to get treated, yet his quickened regeneration already had started to heal up the burned skin. He tried to convince Nik to return to her room and get some rest, but she refused vehemently to leave his side.
In the end he called for Thor to move the exhausted woman, who was close to falling asleep on her chair beside the treatment table. Nik tried to complain, but she was simply too tired to put up much resistance as the Demigod simply picked her up and threw her over his shoulder.
"Rest well, Lady Nikhad" Thor told her with a smirk after he had dropped her on her bed.
"Night" she replied in a tired mumble and fell asleep before he even had left the room.

Male voices woke her again. She groggily looked around her dark room, not knowing how long she had been asleep, but it had to be in the middle of the night.
"You sure you already should be up?"
The familiar voice of Tony caused her to turn her attention towards her door, where she heard steps pass by.
"All I can do right now is rest and I prefer doing this in my on bed than in the sickbay"
The slightly strangled voice of Steve immediately caused the bad consciousness to return.
The steps stopped in front of her door for and she heard a heavy sigh from the Captain.
"I hope Nik doesn't beat herself up that much because of this"
"She will get over it as soon as you're fine again"
Steve hummed at Tony's reply, though he didn't sound as sure as his comrade, then they went on their way.
Nik was biting her lip and swallowed down the lump in her throat. How was she supposed to get over something like this? It could easily happen again and maybe next time it would end even worse.
She sat up in her bad and turned on the lamp on her nightstand, then stared down at her hands. Those cursed hands.

Opposite from the twins she hadn't chosen willingly to be experimented on. She had been kidnapped by Hydra together with other children from an orphanage and had been the only one to survive their treatments.
She placed her palm on the lightbulb beside her and drew some energy, then formed a small ball of light in her hand. Concentrating on the energy, she made it whirl between her fingers, change forms, then return to a ball. The smallest smile curved her lips as everything worked just fine, then she heard a painful grunt from the room beside hers, Steve's room and her concentration slipped. The ball burst and for a second her room was lightened up. It was just a small amount of power, so nothing more happened, yet still Nik could feel the warmth against her skin.
She pressed her hands against her mouth to muffle the cry of fear and frustration that left her throat. With being unable to even control this, she was a ticking time bomb, and, in the end, she would explode and rip all her friends with her on this abyss.

Making a quick decision, she jumped out of her bed, ripped her duffle back from underneath her bed and started to stuff it with her most needed stuff.
She needed to get away from here as fast as she could before she would hurt anyone. Before she opened the door, she took a deep breath, then she had to act quickly. At the same time, she drew the energy from the security cameras in the hallway and pushed them back out threw her feet. In the end it would look like each camera just had flickered for a second and this second, she had used to fly buy, unseen by any of the lenses. Tears were streaming down her face as she worked herself through the stores of the tower, apologizing to her friends, but especially Steve repeatedly in her mind. It hurt to leave them, but it was better that way. Outside, her tears mingled with the rain that had started to fall and soon she was swallowed by the darkness as she ran off on no certain direction, not really knowing where to go.


Steve groaned and placed an arm over his eyes as the rising sun shone through his window. For the most part of the night he had been unable to sleep due to the pain pulsating through his body and the troubled thoughts about Nik that had been haunting his mind.
She had been so upset with what had happen and though he hadn't done it for one second, she had blamed everything on herself. Every wake minute, he had thought about how to cheer her up again, how to help her with her bad consciousness and with her powers. He knew that she was afraid of being too weak. Maybe he could work out something, a training plan or similar things together with Tony, Banner and the twins.

Knowing, he wouldn't be able to fall back asleep again, he forced himself out of his bed and into the bathroom. With a look in the mirror, he found that he looked way better than yesterday. The skin on his arms and chest still was a little reddened but it had returned to a normal texture without any blisters and way less scaly.
After a quick shower, he left his room to get himself something to eat, but as he passed Nik's room, he stopped. The urge to open the door and look after he was nearly unbearable, but he knew that she was needing rest herself and with not being a morning person, her reactions sometimes were a little heated when woken up too early.
With a small chuckle, he remembered how she had busted Thor right out of her door once, after the Asgardian had entered her room at daybreak to show her a new pop tart flavour he had found.
Deciding to first eat something and allow Nik some more peace, he walked on towards the kitchen.
As he was sitting over coffee and pancakes, Tony, who had spent the night in his laboratory, joined him, Thor and Natasha following soon afterwards. Together they sat, eat and talked and the next time Steve glanced at the clock, he found that it already was around 10. He furrowed his eyebrows. Yes, Nik was no morning person but still she usually was up by now.
"I'm going to wake up Nik"
He announced and left the kitchen, but as he knocked at her door, he got no answer. Carefully, he opened the door and awaited to find her still asleep in her bed, but it was empty. Though it already was bright day, the lamp on her nightstand was still burning and the door to the as well empty bathroom stood open.
"Where could she be?" he mumbled and returned to the kitchen.
"Has anyone seen Nik this morning? She isn't in her room"
His comrades looked up, but they all shrugged or shook their head.
"Maybe she had gone to the sickbay to look for you"
Tony nodded to Natasha's reply and took a sip of his coffee to cover the smirk on his face. It was really cute how agitated the supersoldier was just because Nik wasn't in her room. "Or she is training"

Steve followed his friends suggestions, but Nik wasn't in the sickbay, the training grounds, the laboratories or anywhere else in the tower. About an hour later, he found himself back in Nik's room to search for a hint where she could have been gone. He pulled out his phone and dialled her number but froze as he something started to vibrate behind him. Her phone was laying on her desk, where she had left it before going to the mission the day before.
He pressed his lips together and told him not to interpret too much into this situation, yet he couldn't ignore the sour feeling that started to grow in his stomach.
Tony already was back in his lab when Steve had found him. The witty commend about the captain and his woman died in his throat the second, Tony saw his serious expression,
"Something the matter?"
"I can't find Nik anywhere in the tower and she left her phone in her room"
Even Tony had to admit that this was a little strange, but still there had to be an easy answer to all of this.
"Let's take a look at the surveillance videos. When was the last time anyone had seen her?"
He sat down on his desk and opened the program, while Steve remained standing behind him.
"Thor dropped her off in her room while I was still treated"
Tony nodded and searched for the right time. Steve could feel the slightest pang of jealousy as he watched Thor carrying Nik bridal style, her head resting tiredly against the Asgardian's chest, but he quickly shook it off. This wasn't the right time. After Thor had left the room, Tony went fast forward but the hallway remained empty at first, the Natasha walked by and after some more minutes, the men could see themselves pass. For the remaining of the night nothing happened, and Tony stopped the video at the point Steve had returned to Nik's room to wake her.
"Strange" Tony mumbled and checked some other data to find out if a window in her apartment had been opened, but it hadn't.
They watched the video again, this time a little slower and at some point after he and Tony once again had passed, Steve believed to see the picture flicker for a brief moment.
"Stop here and go back a little"
Though he hadn't noticed anything, Tony did as he was asked for and after he replayed the scene, he too noticed the small blackout of the camera. Quickly he readjusted the record to show the pictures of all cameras that were monitoring this hallway and after pressing play, they could see that one after the other were showing the same disfunction.
"Could that be?" he murmured and rubbed his chin, already having a feeling what was going on "But why would she sneak out the tower just like that?"
"What do you mean with sneak out?"
Steve's voice was a low growl, filled with anger and fear. Of course, he understood the meaning of his friend's words, but his mind wasn't willing to admit that Nik just had left then, left him just like that.
"We shouldn't have left her alone just like that yesterday. She was so upset"
Tony looked at Steve worried as it was rare that he would become this agitated, yet he understood his reaction. He wouldn't have reacted any other way, if Pepper had disappeared just like that.
"Steve, no one could have known that-"
"But we should have!"
His answer was sharper than he had intended it to be, but he was so angry with himself, with the others with everything. Nik was gone, seemingly had disappeared in the middle of the night, hours ago and he had no clue where she was or when or if she would return. This thought scared him the most. Loosing her.
"We are comrades Tony! We should be there for each other, but we left her to her own thoughts!"

If the situation hadn't been that critical, it would be amusing. The whole evening before, Steve had told Nik that she shouldn't beat up herself for something she hadn't been able to control and now he was doing just the same.
While Tony tried his best to calm the supersoldier down and to form a plan to what to do next, Steve started walking aimlessly around the lab to calm his nerves.
Nik wasn't a helpless damsel in distress, she was able to take care of herself, yet on the other side had she been emotionally confused and might have done something stupid. because she had been feeling guilty. But disappearing out of the tower the way she did showed that this hadn't been a rash reaction, it was planned, so she wouldn't get caught. Steve didn't know what was hurting the most, the unsuspectingness where she had gone or the fact that she had left willingly.

"How could this happen anyway. We have every kind of security equipment in this tower and still she had been able to sneak out just like that! What is all this stuff good for?"
He pointed at all the computers and technical devices in the laboratory while he kept stalking up and down. Tony didn't reply, knowing that his friend just needed to blow of some steam, that he was shouting because he was afraid.

The door to the lab swished open again and this time Natasha and Thor stepped in, but stopped the second they took in the scene in front of them. Natasha scowled as she eyed the still striding Captain and a for once very serious Tony.
"What is going on?"
The billionaire first glanced at Steve and searched for the right words to not exaggerate his friend even more
"It seems that Nik has left the Tower this night"
"What is so bad about her going out. Lady Nikhad is a grown woman"
Thor didn't understand what all this fuss was about and why his comrade was so agitated about. He slumped down on a computer chair and leaned forward to rest his forearms on his knees.
"She didn't exactly leave for a walk. She rigged the cameras and left her phone to not be tracked"
"Nik ran away?"
Steve's head jerked up at Natasha's question and the barely tamed anger bubbled backed up.
"She didn't run away!" He clenched his hands and teeth, finally having stopped walking "Don't make it sound like she just left us like that. Nik would never let us down!" The thought alone was unbearable to him

Natasha looked at her fried sympathetically and walked over to him "Steve" She laid her hands on his arm and gently pushed him over and down on another chair,
"I'm not saying that she is gone for good"
The soldiers shoulders tensed up at her words and she quickly padded them soothingly "But obviously something had caused her leave the tower and obviously she didn't want anyone to follow her"
Steve slumped forward and buried his face in his hands "It was because of what happened yesterday. She was afraid that she might be too weak and a danger for us"
With a growl he had his tight with his fist "I shouldn't have left her alone with those thoughts"
"You were busy getting patched up, Steve" Natasha tried to calm hum and Thor nodded in agreement "Do not fred, brother Steve. When I left Lady Nikhad last night I thought she wouldn't wake until morning with how exhausted she was. No one could have foreseen what had happened"

Steve was glad about his friends support and deep down, he knew they were right, yet still he couldn't shake of the sour taste of guilt. With a heavy sigh his hands returned to his face and he rubbed his tired eyes.
"Thank you, guys. And sorry for shouting, I don't know why t his all infuriates me that much"
The room fell silent, then Tony chuckled, followed by Thor's rumbling laugh.
Lifting his head, Steve looked in the suddenly very amused faces of his friends.
"What?"
"You really don't get it"
Even Natasha had to stifle a giggle at the Captain's innocence and confusion. It was just too cute to watch the thoughts running around behind his forehead without him understanding anything.
"Why do you think you're way more anxious and agitated about Nik being gone than maybe me or our Conan here?"
Tony was still smirking while he motioned between him and Thor, who waved goofily at his friend. Steve's eyes knitted together as he looked from one man to the other
"Nik is a comrade and a good friend. She is important to me"
"Nik is important to all of us" Natasha sighed and rolled her eyes, then took the supersoldier's face in her hands to look in his eyes "But don't you think that maybe Nik is a little more important to you than to us?"
She exactly could see the moment it clicked in his mind and as his eyes widened, she smiled and let got of him. It wasn't needed to speak it out loud. Instead she turned towards the other two men "So, no to the topic at hand. Where is Nik and how can we find her?"