The right partner (Steve x Reader) - Part 3

'Do you have any footage from the bar?' you asked Tony, after you had been searching for some clues about who could have done this to Steve for the past hour.

'Do you have to ask?' he frowned, a grin curling his lips. He typed some commands into a small transparent tablet, pulling up the footage from the security camera's there.

Steve had been quiet the entire time, coughing every few minutes and sighing in between.

'Okay, now fast forward a little,' you told Tony, squinting your eyes at the screen and watching how people quickly came and went to get their drinks. 'There, stop!' you cried out, when you saw Steve and you walking towards the bar.

The image slowed and you watched yourself order drinks and saying hello to the man that took his place next to you. 'I don't remember anything after this,' you sighed.

'Me either,' Steve finally spoke.

You watched the bartender pour you your drinks and place them behind you on the bar. While the bartender turned to the other side to get someone else a drink, the man next to you got a little bottle from his jacket and poured the contents in Steve's glass.

'Wow,' Tony whispered, turning his head towards Steve and you.

A few seconds later the bartender placed a martini in front of the man and tabbed you on the shoulder, telling you your drink was on the counter.

'Friday, use our access to the old S.H.I.E.LD network to perform a facial recognition test,' Tony ordered his new AI. 'We'll find out who that bastard is,' he continued.

You nodded, swallowing hard. Deep down you had known it had to be that man, but you just couldn't believe someone was so cruel to take Steve's powers away. It would have been easier if the serum just wore off. Then you would at least know no one meant Steve any harm.

'Are you alright?' you mumbled, turning to Steve, not sure how to feel yourself.

He nodded, pushing himself from Bruce's chair. He coughed, wiping the sweat from his brow and looking up at you. His eyes were sunken into their sockets, his face a pale grey.

'I'll be fine,' he swallowed hard and you could see he was definitely not fine. 'I just need to lay down for a sec...'

Before you could do anything to help him, Steve collapsed on the floor. You were with him within seconds and Tony quickly turned around, a worried frown covering his face.

'Steve...' you whispered, taking him into your arms and wiping the wet hair from his face. He was extremely cold and feverish and you could feel him shake.

'What happened?' Tony asked, kneeling next to you and measuring Steve's heart rate.

'He just collapsed,' you answered, looking up at Tony, biting away your tears.

Tony nodded, keeping his fingers around Steve's small wrist and looking on his watch to count the seconds. 'Put him on the table over there,' he told you, pointing to the back of the room. 'If we want to know what's happening to him we need to perform some tests and take some blood samples.'

Tony helped you pull Steve's fragile body from the floor and carried his friend all the way to the metal table. When you were just about to walk away to get the equipment for a blood sample, Steve got you by the arm. A small smile curled his lips, looking at you through his eyelashes.

'Don't worry,' he whispered. 'You're going to fix this.'

You smiled sadly, slowly nodding at his words. You wanted to believe that, but seeing him laying here like this, you didn't know if you would. This might prove too much for you to handle. Where was Bruce when you needed him?

You quickly got the blood samples you needed, not wanting to cause Steve any more pain than he was already in. He still tried to remain tough, but you could see in his eyes that he was suffering more pain than anyone should have to endure.

While you started to analyze Steve's blood, Tony made some scans of his body and tried to find whoever was responsible for this. You both thought it was better if Steve had some rest and Tony brought him to his old room to sleep off his fever. When he was back, you could see the defeated look in his eyes and you knew he had come to the same conclusion as you had: Steve was dying...

Tony swallowed hard and nodded at you slowly as tears ran down your cheeks, looking at the large image of Steve's blood on the screen in front of you.

'It's eating away at his cells,' you stated, your voice nothing but a whisper. 'How are we...' you sighed. 'How are we supposed to fix this?' you asked Tony.

'I don't think we are... Whoever did this to Steve, they didn't just want Captain America gone. They wanted him dead.'

'I'm not going to let that happen...' you swallowed hard, biting down your teeth hard. 'If I can isolate the drug they used, I can find a way to stop it and reverse the process. I have to...'

Tony laid his hands on your shoulders and smiled at you encouragingly. 'You can do this. I know you can.'

You nodded, turning to the microscope in front of you and taking a deep breath while Tony also regained his work.

You sat behind that desk for hours in a row, trying to find a cure for Steve. You analyzed every single one of the blood samples, hoping to find something that could lead you to the solution. Every one was exactly the same however, and each time you looked, his cells had deteriorated even more. At this rate, Steve would be dead before the end of the week.

You couldn’t let that happen…

While Tony tried to find the man that was responsible for this, you tried to isolate the serum from Steve's cells, using a special technique you had designed yourself. But every time you tried, you only seemed to speed up the process. You even asked Friday to pull up the old notes from doctor Erskine, but whatever you tried, it all failed. If you didn’t get your hands on whatever serum or drug the man had used to poison Steve, you were afraid you’d never be able to save him.

You did know that it was powerful enough to undo the changes into Steve’s DNA doctor Erskine’s formula and Tony’s father had achieved 75 years ago (and even destroy the fragile cells left). What you didn’t know was how it was doing that.

'I can't do this,' you sighed, rubbing your eyes.

'What do you mean?' Tony frowned, looking up from the research you had asked him to do. 'Besides Bruce you were S.H.I.E.L.D's top researcher. You won awards for your work in biochemistry and DNA research. What do you mean you can't?'

'I just can't, okay!' you cried out, feeling the tears sting in your eyes. 'I'm not Bruce...'

Tony's expression turned serious and he turned around to you. 'No, you're not and that will prevent you from making the mistakes he usually does. If you don't fix this, Steve is going to die...'

'Don't you think I know that?' you yelled at him, feeling so hopeless. 'I love him, Tony! I love him...' you added in a whisper, realizing you had just spoken those words out loud.

A small smile curled his lips and he nodded at your words. 'And that's why I know you can do this.'

You swallowed hard. Why did Tony have so much faith in you? In the past few hours you hadn’t discovered a thing. He on the other hand had found out that the man worked for HYDRA and had possibly set in motion a plan years in the making. According to some files and communication Friday uncovered, Baron Strucker himself had made the drug on the order of Alexander Pierce. The only consolation you had was that both Pierce and Strucker were dead.

'You love me?' it suddenly sounded from the other side of the hallway.

You turned around, seeing Steve standing in the door opening, a small, hopeful smile curling his lips.

You didn’t know how long he had been standing there, but you hoped he hadn’t heard the part where Tony told you he was going to die. 'Steve...' you whispered. ‘What are you doing out of bed? You need to rest.'

'I'll leave you alone for a sec,' Tony grinned, walking out of the lab, padding Steve on the shoulder softly.

'Do you?' Steve asked again.

'Of course I do.'

'Even... Even if I stay like this?’

You pushed yourself from your seat and walked over to him. ‘I don’t care how tall or strong you are,’ you smiled, taking his hands into yours, ‘or that you won’t be Captain America anymore. I care about you, Steve. The man that’s inside here,’ you whispered, laying your hand on his chest, feeling his heart beat fast against your fingers. ‘The man you’ve always been.’

Steve smiled again. ‘I-I love you too,’ he whispered, squeezing your hand softly. ‘When all of this is over, I’d like to take you out on a date.’

‘Steven Grant Rogers,’ you started. ‘Are you… Are you asking me out?’ you smiled, faking sounding surprised.

Steve laughed, coughing loudly soon after. ‘I am…’

You swallowed hard and biting your lip, trying to keep yourself from crying. You would love to go out with Steve. You had been wanting to go out with him ever since you had saved him from the helicarrier and had realized you were in love with him.

‘I still haven’t seen those Star Trek movie, but if you don’t get back into bed right now, I’m going to make you watch Frozen again.

‘Movie night it is,’ Steve nodded, slowly letting go of your hand.

Before he walked away from you he pressed a kiss on your cheek and told you again you were going to fix this. If not today, then tomorrow.

You could only hope that that was true. Because if you didn’t find a solution soon, the only place you were ever going to see him again was a graveyard...



TO BE CONTINUED...