Work Text:
Bandages (even a Super Soldier needs 'em)
by: Shadow Chaser
Story:
One step in front of the other, one step in front of the other, one step- Steve ignored the hitch of his breath, the sharp shooting pain burning down his right leg, setting it on fire. He repeated the mantra in his head, hearing the phantom voice of his drill instructor Sergeant Duffy shouting the same thing. His head was swimming and the blood loss was already affecting him as he kept pace with the rest of the Commandos. He knew he could out run them on any other given day, but right now, it was just enough to keep up.
Shrapnel had already tore into his leg when he had laid down covering fire, shield and all, to cover Falsworth as he ran to collect Dernier being shot at by surviving HYDRA soldiers. Their mission had been to take out a HYDRA outpost near Foy, the outskirts of Bastogne and the Belgium front. Dernier had been able to sneak in with Bucky covering him until he had blown up the HYDRA outpost. In the ensuing explosion, Bucky had covered them until they retreated to their fallback position, but they had run into some fleeing Germans, driven out of Foy earlier that day and that was when Falsworth had been shot.
Dugan had been the closest and dragged him to the side while the rest of them laid down covering fire to somewhat stabilize their friend's wound, enough for him to make it back to Foy, but the Germans, probably scared out of their minds or angry enough to see something with the American flag – namely his shield - just opened up with desperation. Steve had taken shrapnel into his leg, but he had waved off everyone's concern before picking Falsworth up and placing the shield over him and the Commandos started their harried run back into Foy when the Germans pressed their attack.
Steve knew that in this instance, in the backdrop of white snow, his shield was probably the most colorful thing on the battlefield and a big target so they had zig-zagged the best they could, with Bucky, Jones, Morita, Dernier, and Dugan laying down covering fire as best as they could. He could hear Dernier swearing up a storm of French to his left, Falsworth responding faintly to some of it in mumbled English near his ear as he carried him across his shoulders. He could hear the pings of bullets and shrapnel bouncing off his shield as the Germans continued their pursuit.
“Fucking Krauts! I'd taking fucking HYDRA any day!” he twisted his head at Bucky's shout as he paused behind him and fired back before running again.
“Medic! Medic!” he looked ahead, his vision swimming a little, to Dugan charging ahead in the corner of the road they were on and urged himself to move faster.
He grimaced and grunted a little at the flare of pain. Turning the corner, he exhaled a quick breath of relief as he saw the small half-burnt out buildings of Foy, the patrolling soldiers of Easy Company scrambling towards them-
And just like that his whole world exploded in a wash of pain; his vision whiting out suddenly, and Steve found himself tumbling to the ground, grunting more from the impact of the hard, cold unforgiving ground than from the bullet that tore through him. He hit hard the ground enough that he saw his vision white-out, the noise in his ears static.
* * *
Bucky turned sharply and abruptly at the small pained sound of surprise from Steve in time to see him topple to the ground, throwing Falsworth from his shoulders, shield clattering into the muddy, snowy, hard-packed ground. Shock coursed through him as Steve followed, and that was when he saw the bloom of dark liquid, blood, black against the winter coat Steve had been wearing to camouflage himself while they had been in their foxholes not a day earlier. The 2d Battalion had led the charge into Foy earlier in the morning while the Commandos undertook their own mission to take out the HYDRA outpost outside of Foy.
“Steve!” the word was familiar, but the tone that emerged from his lips sounded like it was dragged out from the depths of the most frightful pit of hell. His training immediately kicked in as he did an abrupt face, brought his sniper rifle up and fired from the hip into the pursuing Krauts. They scattered as more fire was poured on from behind, Easy Company finally arriving to put their machine guns and men to use.
Bucky dove towards Steve, keeping his head low as the whomp and fizzling sound of bullets and mortars filled the air from both sides. He saw the other Commandos also scrambling towards them. He reached Steve first, dragging him by the collar, desperation and fear filling him at his friend's rolling eyes and flipped him over-
“Come on,” Bucky nearly started at the sudden soft, but firm tone of someone else who had also reached over to grab Steve's collar and nearly pulled his gun on him when he saw the white band with red cross on it. A medic.
“Cap, Cap?” Jones' voice broke into Bucky's panicked fog as he saw Jones grab one of Steve's arms and together the three of them dragged Steve away.
Out of the corner of his eye he saw another medic and Morita pulling Falsworth also to another low-lying ditch next to a burnt out building, Dugan and Dernier laying down covering fire with the rest of Easy Company.
“Hey Cap,” Bucky returned his attention to the medic who had set Steve down and realized that he had all but been gripping the looser folds of Steve's winter coat in a death grip and belatedly released it. He crouched next to Steve, his mind distantly processing the orders shouted at Easy beyond them, the cheers of victory as the firing gradually stopped, punctuated by the short pops of the occasional rifle or machine gun.
Steve's groan made him snap back to see his friend blinking his eyes rapidly, awake, but in definite pain.
“Hey Cap,” the medic greeted again, reaching over and pulled a little at Steve's eyes before examining the bullet wound, “out and out, sir.”
“You've got any sulfa, Sarge?” the medic turned to him and Bucky nodded numbly, fumbling for his limited medical pouch and pulled it out, handing it to the medic. He realized that the medic had a bit of a rolling southern accent, soft tones of a bit of French that did not quite sound like Dernier's when he was speaking-
Jones suddenly said something in French that Bucky did not quite catch, but a nod of affirmation from the black-haired medic made Jones smile a little as he held Steve's other hand, wincing at the sudden tightness of grip as sufla was poured around the wound.
“I need to lift you on your side, Cap-”
“Not...to the right,” Steve's voice was faint from the pain and Bucky glanced down to see the apparent shrapnel wound his best friend had waved off was a little more serious than what they had expected.
“Sir-” the medic started, but Bucky interrupted him.
“Fuck Steve...Jesus you could have told us you have metal wedged into your thigh!” he swore as he finally got a good look at the jagged protruding metal that had been well hidden in all of the layers of clothing Steve wore. It had been apparently exposed as he had fallen to the ground, ripping apart layers of clothing.
The medic looked angry as he also peered at the wound and muttered something that Bucky definitely recognized as swears in French. “Damn straight,” he echoed darkly as he glared at Steve, angry at the same time shocked beyond words at how far Steve had run and kept up with them with that kind of wound digging into his leg after they had blown up the HYDRA outpost.
The medic swore again before grabbing several bandages from his pack and stuck the corner of a sulfa pack into his mouth as he looked back and forth before looking up. “Sir, gonna need your help here if you don't mind.”
“What do you need Roe?” Bucky looked up to see that it was Captain Winters of the 2d Battalion who had apparently wandered over. Beyond him, he could see the rest of the Battalion securing the location, scouting parties sent out to ensure that the Krauts would not be coming back or chasing after one of their own. Bucky also noticed that Winters was holding onto Steve's shield, having apparently picked it up from where it had fallen in the middle of the road, but set it down at the medic's command.
“Gonna need to hold his legs. Got shrapnel I need to re-cut out and bandage before I can work on Cap's in-and-out,” the medic, Roe produced a pair of forceps and small knife.
Bucky looked down and saw that the metal protruding out from Steve's thigh had fused to his thigh, skin growing around it and realized that Steve's serum-enhanced body had healed the wound while they were running. Whether it was to prevent the loss of blood or to keep the piece from tearing his leg further as he ran, he did not know, but Bucky instantly knew that this time, whatever concoction Dr. Erskine put into Steve was hindering him instead of helping him. The shrapnel was sure to get infected sooner or later, if not already, and Steve needed it out of him.
“Sergeant Barnes-”
“I'm not taking a walk, sir,” Bucky almost did not tack on the 'sir' at the end of his statement at Captain Winters' authoritative tone and saw the Captain nod once before Bucky moved a little to Steve's head, turning it slightly so that Steve's pain-filled blue eyes were staring at him, a little glossy eyed.
“It's gonna hurt, you jackass, okay? Thanks to your idiotic efforts in ignoring it, we've got it cut it out of you,” Bucky thought he managed to keep his voice steady as he pressed the full of his weight on Steve's shoulder, Jones doing the same to Steve's other shoulder while Captain Winters held down Steve's legs.
He thought he saw Steve give a small brave nod, much like he had back when he was still just a skinny little punk, but it was drowned out by the sudden tense pain that flared across his face as Roe worked fast. Two quick cuts parallel to the shrapnel, not so deep to cut major arteries, but deep enough that Steve definitely felt the pain, followed by the slightly sickening sound of something being sucked out as Roe pulled the shrapnel free. Steve squirmed against all of the hands holding him down and Bucky nearly felt himself being thrown around, shocked at how strong Steve was – both for being able to throw three people off of him, and for having the mind to restrain himself from throwing three people and a medic off of him for causing him so much pain.
Roe ripped the sulfa packet with the corner of his teeth and sprinkled it liberally around the now gaping leg wound before quickly bandaging up the wound with a few layers. Bucky glanced back at Steve's face and saw him closing his eyes, face scrunched up-
“He needs morphine-”
“Can't take it,” Bucky shook his head as he reached out and rubbed Steve's forehead, trying to give him some small measure of comfort while keeping his other hand and most of his weight on Steve's shoulder.
“What-”
“He burns through that stuff, it doesn't affect him,” Bucky said almost absently before he sucked in a quick breath and glanced down towards where Captain Winters was still holding onto Steve's legs. No one outside of the Commandos or those who had been involved in Erskine's experiment knew that about Steve. It was considered top secret mostly because if Steve were ever to be taken prisoner, it was an advantage Steve would have in his escape.
Winters' sharp eyes only stared back before he shrugged like he had not heard a thing. Bucky breathed a little easier, but wondered if the Captain was going to report it to his superior officers.
Roe acted like he had not even heard it as he said, “Move him to his right.” Steve suddenly relaxed and Bucky instinctively jammed his fingers under Steve's jaw, a flash of fear pouring through him – before he felt his pulse, steady. He breathed a quick sigh of relief and helped Jones push Steve to his side as Roe scurried to mop up and clean the entry wound from where a Kraut had shot Steve in the back.
Roe poured more sulfa and brought out more bandages before tying a quick tourniquet just as the rumbles of a jeep pulled up and screeched to a halt. Bucky looked up to see two stretcher bearers running towards them while another two ran across the street to aid Falsworth.
“In and out left hip, shrapnel wound, right leg,” Roe stood up as the stretcher bearers laid out the stretcher and Bucky helped them drag Steve onto it before he was pushed back by Roe who took one end, Jones taking the other to help the bearers with Steve's bulk and weight.
He was about to move forward again to help them load Steve onto the jeep and ride with them when a hand on his shoulder stopped him. He looked up to see Captain Winters standing next to him, denying him the chance to go with Steve with a quick shake of his head. Bucky was about to protest, to say that he was not even a part of the 2d Battalion and that the Commandos answered only to Colonel Phillips and the SSR before he checked himself and stopped, fists clenched as he watched Steve loaded up in the rear, Falsworth loaded in the front with Roe, Jones, and Dernier hopping in. The jeep drove off, leaving Bucky, Dugan, and Morita behind.
“It's better if you keep this,” Captain Winters released the hand he had on his shoulder and instead handed him Steve's vibranium shield, “instead of leaving it here for the others to find.”
“Thanks, sir,” Bucky replied a little grudgingly as he took Steve's shield, marveling at how light, yet firm it was and slipped it onto his left arm.
“You did well, Sergeant,” Winters reached down picked up the bloodied shrapnel that Roe had dropped to the ground and placed it in his hand, “better than most when they see their friends in such a situation...”
Bucky stared at the fair-haired Captain for a moment, recognizing the worn, raspy words; recognizing that Winters had seen his friends get shot and had not exactly responded so well. He nodded, his respect for Winters growing even more, “Steve and I are Brooklyn boys, there until the end of the line, sir.”
“He'll be fine, Sergeant Barnes,” Winters clapped him once before walking away.
“Yeah, he'll be fine,” Bucky echoed as he watched him walk away. He could feel the weight of the shield in his left arm, the shrapnel digging into his right hand. Steve would be okay. They were stuck with each other until the end of the line. That was the promise.
~END~