CHAPTER SIX

"Are you sure about this?"

Steve lay on one of the bed in the medical centre, while he warily watched his two friends. After he put down his leather jacket, fortunately he didn't find Thor outside his apartment – he wouldn't want to lie to him. Then he went down to the medical centre, where Tony and Bruce explained him the following examination. They will give him a sedative injection, and while he'll be sleeping, they will test his heart via the ECG machine.

"Of course, Cap."

Tony's voice was absolutely confident, even if he actually wasn't. While he waited with Bruce for their friend's arrival, they discussed this test a several times. What would they do, if will really happen, what he guessed. It was a possible future, and Tony didn't dare to admit even to himself, that he was scared like hell. And surely he didn't want to show it to Steve, who seemed also very nervous. Rather he repeated the main points of the procedure.

"Bruce gives you an injection to you in a minute, and you're going to fall asleep. Then we will monitor you while you're sleeping." Tony pointed to the electrodes on Steve skin, then towards the machine next to the bed. "These will help us to figure it out, what's going on with you."

"I hope, you'll find any solution," remarked the blonde man. He really wanted to know the truth.

"How are you feeling?" stepped to the bed Bruce too, and he touched his friend's arm for a second. "Do you feel yourself comfortable?"

"As comfortable as it could be," answered Steve, then gave the man a faint smile.

"All right." Bruce raised his hands, and the injection needle in them. Seeing this Steve suddenly remembered his super soldier transformation, and the needles, which stung into his arms, then the pain. He had to shake his head a little to banish those pictures. "You will feel a tiny stung."

Clearly Bruce was as nervous as his friends, and it didn't help to Steve. He would like to be somewhere else, because he didn't quite enjoy the fact, that he will be dreaming soon. His last nightmare was still in his mind. The beautiful woman, whom he didn't know, and yet he couldn't not think of her since then.

"Just do it!"

Steve felt as the needle got under his skin, but it was nothing compared to his heart's pain. Then his eyes slowly became heavy, and after a few seconds they finally closed. As he gave himself to the sleeping, he immediately found himself on the fields of dreams. Last time he was somewhere on an unknown place, but now weirdly he stood in his own apartment in the Avangers Tower. He wonderingly looked down, and noticed, that he wore the captain suit again, except his helmet. Because he knew, that something always happens in his dreams, he didn't remain in his rooms. That will be the best, if he encounters with, whatever might waits for him. So he called his shield, which lay on the floor next to him, then he stepped out to the corridor.

As he walked towards the elevator, the tower seemed too quiet. Every day there was some noise in there. He could hear Tony's attempts, when he tried to develop his armour, or Natasha and Clint, when they trained, or Thor's lightning, or Bruce's Hulk tests or something else. But now there weren't any noise or speaking. And it was disturbing. But he tried not take notice of this. When the doors of the lift closed, he was ready to face anything.

At first he thought, that he'll leave the tower, but then he threw out the plan. Instead of he got out from the lift at the living room. As he stepped out, he instantly stopped, and stared at the unfolded sight before him. His every limb froze, and his brain stopped working for a few moments. He always knew, that his newly found friends meant a lot to him, but seeing their dead body just confirmed it. The first one, whom he saw was Tony. Steve quickly knelt down next to him, but when he touched his neck, he didn't feel any pulse. Steve repeated it with the others. It seemed, that they didn't give in so easily, but they died eventually. Lastly he cowered down to Thor, and when he felt his faint pulse, he hove a sigh of relief.

"Thor," he murmured, while he looked over his friend's body. There were several wounds on him, the most of them was just a scratch, but one really alarmed Steve. The biggest one on Thor's chest. It was continuously bleeding, so Steve looked around to find some material, which he could use to press down on the wound. "Don't give up!" he said during his searching, rather to himself and not to Thor, because the asgardian clearly was unconscious.

There was a white cardigan, probably Pepper's over on the couch. It wasn't, what he searched, but it was enough for a while till he'll call the ambulance. He just wanted to stand up to get it, when his god friend's left arm shot up, and grabbed his right forearm. He stared down to see the haunted looking eyes of Thor.

"He wants to kill her."

"What?"

Steve couldn't quite catch the meaning of his barely audible statement. Thor evidently was desperate, because in the next minute, he yanked down him with a strong and abrupt move, so they came very close to each other.

"He wants to… kill her…"

In Steve's mind something stirred, while he watched helplessly as every strength and at the end the life also flew out from his friend's body. Actually Thor's death hurt him principally. The god bore his typical characteristic, so he was the one, who could understand him mostly.

"You can't save them."

Steve looked up, when he heard the unfamiliar voice, and he froze for the second time in the last few minutes. There was a man. His hair was blonde, and perfectly combed, in his grey eyes he noticed malice, and his figure was tall and slightly muscular. He wore strange clothes, a leather boots, a pants, which was made also by leather, a long tunic over it, and a cloak. And which made Steve to get frightened, he held a dagger to the woman's throat, who was trapped in his arms. She was that woman, who was in his mind since his previous dream.

All of a sudden anger started to boil in him, as he slowly stood up. His eyes never left the both of them, and clenched his fists.

"Let her go," he growled with set teeth, then stepped closer. "Let her go."

"I think you aren't in that position, where you can give me any order." The man seemed very confident, and a little bit arrogant, so Steve felt a quick urge to knock him down with his shield. "Here I am the one, who can give a command." The stranger grinned, then rose up a bit his weapon towards the skin of the beautiful woman. "For example, watch her death."

"Let her go!" Steve shouted, and at the same time he threw away his shield, then he jumped.

But it was all for nothing. His shield hit the man in his face of course, but he got his dagger already into the woman over her heart. Steve got there only to catch her. While he knelt down, gently holding her in his arms, blood soaked her dark blue dress from the wound. He remembered his last dream, when the woman was in terrible pain, and he couldn't see her face completely, but now he could.

Pain started to torture his heart – he didn't even realize until this moment, that he didn't feel any pain previously –, as he watched her features. She was breathtakingly beautiful – her face, her shiny dark brown hair, and her turquoise eyes, which were widened by the suffering. She evidently wanted to say something, but Steve spoke before her.

"Please, don't speak. You'll just make yourself tired."

Steve stood, and hurried to Pepper's cardigan, then tenderly laid down the woman on the couch. He focused on the wound with his every nerve. He knew without a single thought, that he wanted to save the beauty's life. He had to. It wasn't questionable. So with trembling hands he pressed down the white material to the big red spot.

"It's… too late."

Hearing her breathless words, Steve quickly raised his head from the wound to her face, then immediately started to shake his head. It was the first time, that he heard her voice, and yet he could just concentrate on that thought, that it couldn't be late. He didn't want to be late.

"No." He couldn't accept her possible death. She can't die like his friends. "No!" he repeated a little louder, and continued shaking his head.

"Please…" Steve felt a gentle touch on his cheek, which stopped him, then stared into blue. He gasped. Her lightly touch and her painful look tore him apart. "I have been waiting for this moment… for a long time now." Her suffering face was lit by a weak smile, then her other hand rose up too to touch his skin. "I have been searching for you, and now… I found you…"

Their eyes locked into each other, and he lost in that moment. But unfortunately it didn't last forever. In the next second the woman's hands dropped down, and her eyes clouded.

"No!" cried out Steve, as he immediately caught her falling hands, and he put his thumb over her wrist to check her pulse. To his biggest dread, it continuously slowed, and after a few seconds, stopped. "No…"

Steve looked at the blonde man, who still lay unconsciously on the floor. He was suddenly overrun by the rage, and the urge to beat him to pulp. But when he wanted to stood up, the pain in his heart became completely unbearable, that he couldn't hold back his shout. He stooped onto his knees, then fell off the couch. While he desperately grabbed his chest with his right hand, one thought woke up in his mind – he just needs a few minutes, and he certainly will follow her into death.

---

At the beginning everything seemed normal, and Steve's heart worked just fine. But Tony remained uneasy. He constantly stared at the screen before him, never looking up. He couldn't drive away his worried thoughts, that maybe something will happen. Something terrible.

"His results are good so far," he heard Bruce's voice next to him, so he finally raised his head tearing away his eyes from the monitor. His laboratory buddy clearly was as anxious as himself. "I start to think, that we're searching the nothing."

"Don't give up," answered Tony, while he turned back his previous action. When his eyes were again on his friend's record, he continued. "You very well know like me, that there's something, which causes Steve's pain, and I want to find out. I won't let this unknown disease to kill my friend. I won't stop, until I'll solve this."

He heard Bruce sighing loudly. Tony held back his own, then for the first time he stepped away from the screen. He wanted to look at his friend, who were sleeping in the next room. He didn't opened the door, just looked through the little window on it – he wasn't sure, if he wouldn't wake him up. Steve seemed peaceful in his sleep. His chest went up and down with a normal speed. Maybe nothing will happen, and at the end they will find out, that Steve hasn't got any disease. Tony would give away all of his money for this one moment.

"I think you should see this."

When Bruce spoke, Tony noticed, that Steve's chest started to rise and fall much faster. He surely didn't dream something nice, because his discomfort was easily read from his face. He frowned, while he often shook his head, and he clenched his fists too. Then his distress turned into something dreadfully more in just a few minutes.

"Tony!"

His friend's shout abruptly pull out Tony from his frozen mind. He quickly ran back to Bruce to look over the result. Every value showed, that Steve's shape rapidly goes downhill.

"Shit! What's happening?!"

"He's going into heart attack!" In the next second Bruce vanished into the room, where Steve slept. Just his panicked voice remained. "We need to give him a beta blocker!"

Tony ran after him, and watched as his friend quickly prepared the intravenous injection. This few seconds seemed like an hour, and by the time Bruce was ready to thrust the needle under Steve's skin, he was all nerves.

"Stop!"

A very familiar lightning came, and knocked out the needle from Bruce's hand. The force of this glowing power took down Bruce also. Tony tried to turn and interfere, but in the next second he found himself on the floor three steps away by a strong stroke.

"Thor, what the hell are you doing?!" he shouted, and quickly jumped up to confront the god. "Possibly you just killed him!"

"I'm definitely not."

"What?"

Tony couldn't believe, what his friend is doing. With every seconds they came closer to Steve's death, because the delay of the injection was deadly for him. He stepped forwards, but the hummer appeared before his face.

"Don't." It was the only thing, what Thor said to him, then he turned to Steve, and shook firmly his shoulder. "Steve!" He shook him again, and after a moment the blonde's eyes sprang open with a loud gasp.

"What?"

Tony snatched his head towards Bruce, who stood before the ECG machine, and stared at it with stunned eyes. There was a little blood in the corner of his mouth maybe because of his hard fall, but apart from that, he hadn't got any injuries. And fortunately he could keep in check his anger, so he didn't turn into green.

"Bruce?" He slowly walked to his friend, while he didn't tear away his look from the asgardian and his friend on the bed.

"His values are going back to normal."

At first Tony didn't believe this, but after seeing the results, it was evident. And shocking. It seemed, that the danger of the heart attack vanished with the wakening of Steve. He stepped to the bed, and looked at his friend, but at the same time he intentionally ignored Thor. Steve looked, that he still trapped with the demons of his dream. Whatever he dreamt, it wasn't pleasant. He gently touched his other shoulder.

"Steve, are you all right?" he asked him, and immediately vowed, if the man's answer will be something bad, he will beat out the shit from Thor. But Steve just turned his haunted eyes at him. Clearly he wasn't sure, where he is, and what's going on, and in the next minute, his answer proved it.

"What happened?"

Notes