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ysabetwordsmithThis story belongs to the series Love Is For Children which includes "Love Is for Children," "Hairpins," "Blended," "Am I Not," "Unworthy," "Eggshells," "Dolls and Guys," "Duende," "Saudades," "Querencia," "Turnabout Is Fair Play," "Touching Moments," "Splash," "Coming Around," "Birthday Girl," "No Winter Lasts Forever," "Hide and Seek," "Kernel Error," "Happy Hour," "Green Eggs and Hulk,""kintsukuroi," "Little and Broken, but Still Good," "Byzantine Perplexities," "Up the Water Spout," "The Life of the Dead," "What It Means to Me," "If They Could Just Stay Little," "Anahata," "When the Wheels Come Off," "Against His Own Shield," "Coming in from the Cold: Saturday: Building Towers," "Coming in from the Cold: Sunday: Shaking Foundations," "Coming in from the Cold: Monday: Memorial Day," "Coming in from the Cold: Tuesday: Facing Fears," "Coming in from the Cold: Wednesday: Coping Techniques," "Coming in from the Cold: Thursday: Digging for Answers," "What Little Boys Are Made Of," "Rotten Fruit," "Trying to Find Prui," "Life in Quicktime," "Sunday Dinner," "Cafuné," "Fatherboards and Other F-words," "The Artists Among Us," "Keep the Homefires Burning," "Their Old Familiar Carols Play," "Fluffy," "A Leg Up," "Wabbit Season," and "A Painful Process."
Fandom: The Avengers
Characters: Phil Coulson, Clint Barton, Natasha Romanova, Bucky Barnes, Steve Rogers, Tony Stark, Betty Ross, JARVIS.
Medium: Fiction
Warnings: Missions, Missions Gone Wrong, Bugs & Insects, Major Character Injury, Injury Recovery, Hurt/Comfort.
Summary: After the mission to shut down drugrunners in Brazil, the Avengers recover in the Tower.
Notes: No Sex, Intimacy, Non-Sexual Intimacy, Herbalism, Friendship, Team as Family, Avengers Family, #coulsonlives.
[Read Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, Part 7, Part 8, Part 9, Part 10, Part 11, Part 12, Part 13]
"Coming in from the Cold: Saturday: Revisiting the Past" Part 2
Tony was in his workshop again. His status showed that he had napped for several hours and was now working on some sort of gadget intended to zap the evil insects. Phil was all on board with this plan and logged his approval without bothering Tony. Let the man work, maybe he'd come up with something better than the other plans.
Bucky and Steve were in their apartment. When Phil knocked, however, Bucky came to the door in a bathrobe. "It hasn't been a great night," Bucky whispered. "Steve is sleeping. I don't want to wake him unless it's an emergency."
"It's not an emergency," Phil said. "Let him sleep. I just wanted to check on him. I can come back later."
So then Phil went to his office and checked the aftermath of the mission. Rubbing a hand over his head, he informed FitzSimmons that carpet-bombing part of Brazil was not Plan A. Flooding the area with insecticides was only marginally better as Plan B. He admired Betty's efforts at miniaturizing a gamma beam generator and advised her to network with Tony.
Finally, Phil sent a memo to everyone working on a solution to the abominable bugs. "Make sure you test everything on the captured specimens to prove that it kills them. Then test on neighboring species. We will select the option that has an effective kill rate on the target with the least amount of collateral damage."
Phil fielded an annoyed message from Director Fury, who wanted to know why the Avengers hadn't reported today for further debriefing. The reply included multiple attachments detailing various team members' health and a copy of their standard Saturday schedule. Phil had no trouble sending it ... but he suspected the data packets would jam Fury's inbox.
"Serves him right if it does," Phil muttered, pushing away from his desk. Better to take a break now than to keep going until he lost his temper altogether. He needed to set a good example for his team.
Checking his watch, Phil realized that he had time to make lunch for everyone if he started soon. Cooking was a relaxing task. Phil headed to the common floor.
When he got there, though, it was already occupied.
Steve lay on the couch, curled around and over several pillows. He didn't respond when Phil walked into the room. He doesn't look too good, Phil thought with a frown. "Steve, how are you feeling?" he asked aloud.
"I'll heal," Steve said. "I'm just sore." One of the enemy combatants had tried to chop off Captain's America's right leg with a machete. The blade had failed to cut through super-dense bone, but it left behind a series of deep, parallel gashes across the calf.
"You're sweating and pale," Phil observed. He sat down next to Steve, touching a hand to the larger man's forehead. "You don't feel any warmer than usual, though."
"Just cramps," Steve said, grimacing as his leg twitched. "They'll go away. They always do."
"In the meantime, you're miserable. That's not acceptable, Steve," said Phil. "JARVIS, call Dr. Banner up here, please."
"Dr. Banner is already on his way," JARVIS said. "I called him a minute ago when the last spasm sent Steve's readings into the yellow range."
"Good catch, JARVIS," said Phil, reaching out to stroke Steve's hair. "Steve, remember that you have access to medical care whenever you need it."
"Sorry," Steve said. "I was fine until a little while ago, and then I just ... forgot."
I wonder if he got lost in the memories of being injured or ill and having no resources, Phil mused.
Dr. Banner arrived then. Steve was curled up so tightly that there was room to sit at the far end of the couch. "JARVIS says that your leg is bothering you. Mind if I check it?" asked Dr. Banner.
"Go ahead," Steve said. He tugged on the loose cotton pants that he wore, baring his calf. The gashes had turned into long dark scabs surrounded by purple and pink skin. As Phil watched, the skin shivered and twitched, different sections moving in different rhythms. Steve gritted his teeth.
"I need to touch. This may get uncomfortable," Dr. Banner warned, lowering his hands to Steve's leg. Gentle fingers pressed and probed, following the lines of injury and the shape of the underlying muscles.
Steve yelped and flinched away. "Sorry," he muttered as he moved back within reach.
"It's okay," Dr. Banner said. "Has this happened before? I don't remember seeing it."
"Yeah, it's happened before, but not a lot," Steve said. "It tends to come from having several wounds close together like this, where it crosses the muscles." He held his fingers over the lines and traced across the width of his calf. "It doesn't usually break bone, though. I should be fine, really. It just hurts like crazy for a while."
Dr. Banner looked at him over the rim of his glasses. "Doesn't usually break bone?"
"That only happened a few times," Steve said earnestly.
Phil shivered as he realized that Steve's enhanced muscles were powerful enough to tear his own body apart under the wrong circumstances. "We need to make sure that doesn't happen again," he said.
"Yes, of course," said Dr. Banner. "Steve, you have a wonderful body, but it has some special requirements that you need to respect. I know it didn't come with an instruction manual ..."
The look of pain that crossed Steve's face was pure memory, nothing to do with the current cramps. Dr. Erskine, the man who gave him the enhancement, had been assassinated moments after Steve emerged from the chamber. There had been no time for them to assess the results together. That cruel loss had undercut Steve's understanding of his new body and its needs.
* * *
Notes:
Pesticides are toxic and most do a lot of collateral damage.
Muscle cramps can occur after an injury. In the case of enhanced healing, the speed of repair can exceed the body's ability to adapt, causing severe spasms. It is possible for muscles to break adjacent bones even in ordinary humans; for people with certain superpowers, the risk is much higher.
[To be continued in Part 3 ...]
Fandom: The Avengers
Characters: Phil Coulson, Clint Barton, Natasha Romanova, Bucky Barnes, Steve Rogers, Tony Stark, Betty Ross, JARVIS.
Medium: Fiction
Warnings: Missions, Missions Gone Wrong, Bugs & Insects, Major Character Injury, Injury Recovery, Hurt/Comfort.
Summary: After the mission to shut down drugrunners in Brazil, the Avengers recover in the Tower.
Notes: No Sex, Intimacy, Non-Sexual Intimacy, Herbalism, Friendship, Team as Family, Avengers Family, #coulsonlives.
[Read Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, Part 7, Part 8, Part 9, Part 10, Part 11, Part 12, Part 13]
"Coming in from the Cold: Saturday: Revisiting the Past" Part 2
Tony was in his workshop again. His status showed that he had napped for several hours and was now working on some sort of gadget intended to zap the evil insects. Phil was all on board with this plan and logged his approval without bothering Tony. Let the man work, maybe he'd come up with something better than the other plans.
Bucky and Steve were in their apartment. When Phil knocked, however, Bucky came to the door in a bathrobe. "It hasn't been a great night," Bucky whispered. "Steve is sleeping. I don't want to wake him unless it's an emergency."
"It's not an emergency," Phil said. "Let him sleep. I just wanted to check on him. I can come back later."
So then Phil went to his office and checked the aftermath of the mission. Rubbing a hand over his head, he informed FitzSimmons that carpet-bombing part of Brazil was not Plan A. Flooding the area with insecticides was only marginally better as Plan B. He admired Betty's efforts at miniaturizing a gamma beam generator and advised her to network with Tony.
Finally, Phil sent a memo to everyone working on a solution to the abominable bugs. "Make sure you test everything on the captured specimens to prove that it kills them. Then test on neighboring species. We will select the option that has an effective kill rate on the target with the least amount of collateral damage."
Phil fielded an annoyed message from Director Fury, who wanted to know why the Avengers hadn't reported today for further debriefing. The reply included multiple attachments detailing various team members' health and a copy of their standard Saturday schedule. Phil had no trouble sending it ... but he suspected the data packets would jam Fury's inbox.
"Serves him right if it does," Phil muttered, pushing away from his desk. Better to take a break now than to keep going until he lost his temper altogether. He needed to set a good example for his team.
Checking his watch, Phil realized that he had time to make lunch for everyone if he started soon. Cooking was a relaxing task. Phil headed to the common floor.
When he got there, though, it was already occupied.
Steve lay on the couch, curled around and over several pillows. He didn't respond when Phil walked into the room. He doesn't look too good, Phil thought with a frown. "Steve, how are you feeling?" he asked aloud.
"I'll heal," Steve said. "I'm just sore." One of the enemy combatants had tried to chop off Captain's America's right leg with a machete. The blade had failed to cut through super-dense bone, but it left behind a series of deep, parallel gashes across the calf.
"You're sweating and pale," Phil observed. He sat down next to Steve, touching a hand to the larger man's forehead. "You don't feel any warmer than usual, though."
"Just cramps," Steve said, grimacing as his leg twitched. "They'll go away. They always do."
"In the meantime, you're miserable. That's not acceptable, Steve," said Phil. "JARVIS, call Dr. Banner up here, please."
"Dr. Banner is already on his way," JARVIS said. "I called him a minute ago when the last spasm sent Steve's readings into the yellow range."
"Good catch, JARVIS," said Phil, reaching out to stroke Steve's hair. "Steve, remember that you have access to medical care whenever you need it."
"Sorry," Steve said. "I was fine until a little while ago, and then I just ... forgot."
I wonder if he got lost in the memories of being injured or ill and having no resources, Phil mused.
Dr. Banner arrived then. Steve was curled up so tightly that there was room to sit at the far end of the couch. "JARVIS says that your leg is bothering you. Mind if I check it?" asked Dr. Banner.
"Go ahead," Steve said. He tugged on the loose cotton pants that he wore, baring his calf. The gashes had turned into long dark scabs surrounded by purple and pink skin. As Phil watched, the skin shivered and twitched, different sections moving in different rhythms. Steve gritted his teeth.
"I need to touch. This may get uncomfortable," Dr. Banner warned, lowering his hands to Steve's leg. Gentle fingers pressed and probed, following the lines of injury and the shape of the underlying muscles.
Steve yelped and flinched away. "Sorry," he muttered as he moved back within reach.
"It's okay," Dr. Banner said. "Has this happened before? I don't remember seeing it."
"Yeah, it's happened before, but not a lot," Steve said. "It tends to come from having several wounds close together like this, where it crosses the muscles." He held his fingers over the lines and traced across the width of his calf. "It doesn't usually break bone, though. I should be fine, really. It just hurts like crazy for a while."
Dr. Banner looked at him over the rim of his glasses. "Doesn't usually break bone?"
"That only happened a few times," Steve said earnestly.
Phil shivered as he realized that Steve's enhanced muscles were powerful enough to tear his own body apart under the wrong circumstances. "We need to make sure that doesn't happen again," he said.
"Yes, of course," said Dr. Banner. "Steve, you have a wonderful body, but it has some special requirements that you need to respect. I know it didn't come with an instruction manual ..."
The look of pain that crossed Steve's face was pure memory, nothing to do with the current cramps. Dr. Erskine, the man who gave him the enhancement, had been assassinated moments after Steve emerged from the chamber. There had been no time for them to assess the results together. That cruel loss had undercut Steve's understanding of his new body and its needs.
* * *
Notes:
Pesticides are toxic and most do a lot of collateral damage.
Muscle cramps can occur after an injury. In the case of enhanced healing, the speed of repair can exceed the body's ability to adapt, causing severe spasms. It is possible for muscles to break adjacent bones even in ordinary humans; for people with certain superpowers, the risk is much higher.
[To be continued in Part 3 ...]
(no subject)
Date: 2020-01-26 12:58 pm (UTC)and I'm guessing that Steve's problem is that while his body is regenerating, it's not knitting the severed nerves together correctly, causing them to misfire or misdirect impulses, because with multiple breaks in the nerve pathways, the ends would start knitting together before signals could get past the breaks further upstream, resulting in the downstream nerves trying to reconnect without guidance [like rewiring without doing continuity checks] and then having misconnected having to rewire to fix the problem.
(no subject)
Date: 2020-01-26 02:36 pm (UTC)I still have nightmares about the wrist videography catheterization before the open heart surgery. I couldn't be sedated enough not to care... 😫ðŸ˜
Well ...
Date: 2020-01-27 06:50 am (UTC)Re: Well ...
Date: 2020-02-01 02:42 am (UTC)The most amusing thing: the doctor shared some of my other languages, and at least knew *how* upset I was by the French that needed pardoning, by English phrasing "pardon my French". ;-) He basically told his nurse anesthesiologist that I really was past appropriate to translate language.