Chapter Text
Steve Rogers woke up in a hospital bed in medical, still feeling a surprising amount of pain considering the super serum. That definitely wasn't normal. He was usually healed up by the time he woke up.
What happened? Why was he here?
He tried to lift a hand to rub his face groggily but was stopped by a firm resistance.
When he checked, it turned out to be a handcuff. Both of his wrists were cuffed to the sides of the bed and they managed to stand up to his strength as well when he tried to pull free.
What was going on?
It took a few minutes before the memories came back and he tried to jerk upright when they did.
The battle, the Avengers fighting Thanos.
With all those disgusting demons and so-called angels. He'd seen his chance to take out one of them, the dangerous one that Tony was listening to. He'd been causing them nothing but trouble since they met him.
And then…
One of them stabbed him! She stabbed him with her sword! And then he'd only known burning agony. Had someone set him on fire?!
That explained his current pain…
What about Thanos? Did those monsters betray them and side with the Titan? Was that why he was locked up here?
He'd told everyone that they couldn't be trusted. They should have listened to him!
"Oh, you're awake."
He was snapped out of his thoughts and looked to the source of the voice. It took him a moment to recognise Helen Cho. She was eyeing him with wary suspicion from across the room, by the door.
"Helen!" He said in relief. "Someone cuffed me to the bed. It must have been a mistake, could you find someone to unlock them?"
She studied him for a long moment.
"How obliviously stupid are you?" She asked harshly and he blinked at her in shock. "I'm not dealing with your delusions. You're not going to die, so that's my job done." She stared at him with clear disgust. "You're lucky you're still breathing at all. Considering you took out our best healer in the middle of the battle!"
She gave him a disgusted glare and stormed out, leaving Steve gaping at her back. She was talking about that demon? He still didn't believe that it had actually been helping people. Demons were evil, they couldn't help anyone. And they wouldn't. Evil didn't do good things. Just like how good didn't do evil.
He was sure that they'd realise he was right soon.
But… where was Bucky? He wasn't here when he woke up. Had someone hurt him while Steve had been unconscious?!
He needed to find his best friend, he needed to protect him.
What if Tony took his chance to go after Bucky?
He needed to get out.
No matter how hard he struggled, Steve wasn't able to get free. The cuffs refused to give and the actual bed seemed to have been reinforced to the point that it held against his strength.
He was stuck.
He was frustrated and angry when the next visitors arrived. It was Rhodes who glared at him in disgust. Behind him came a demon and one of the fake angels.
"Rhodes! Let me out of these-"
"After what you pulled? Not a chance in hell Rogers," he snapped. "You attacked an ally on the battlefield on purpose. A healer no less who was in the middle of healing someone! You aren't going anywhere but a jail cell."
"Or hell," the fake-angel, Michael he thought, muttered.
The demon, Beelzebub? Whatever its name was. It scoffed.
"We don't want the puffed-up peacock. Lucifer's claimed his soul anyway, like with the little witch."
"Fucking karma," Rhodes spat. "A traitor deserves nothing less."
"I'm not a traitor!" Steve shouted in offence.
"You're nothing but!" Rhodes roared, shocking Steve. "You betrayed Tony when you kept his parents' murder a secret and again when you left him injured in Siberia. You betrayed the Avengers when you made them fight each other for your agenda. You betrayed the world when you chose Barnes over every single life that happened to get in your way. And then you betrayed us on that battlefield when you attacked an ally because of your own bias. When you attacked one of our best healers while others were injured, while he was in the middle of healing someone at that moment. Thanos was right there with his army, and you turned on our ally because you didn't like him."
"He's a demon!"
"And yet you've certainly done more harm to this world than he has," Rhodes answered coldly.
"True," Beelzebub mused. "Crowley's always been soft. He preferred mischief to actual chaos and destruction. He's certainly never gone on a rampage through city streets for the sake of one man. He's always been strangely fond of humans."
"Imagine, a demon with less blood on his hands than one enhanced human," Michael drawled.
"The blood he does have was generally not even his choice," the demon admitted. "I looked into a few things. His highest kill count was when he'd been bound to the will of a human after being summoned. The others were usually accidental."
"That demon is not better than me!" Steve seethed in anger at the suggestion.
Michael sneered down at him. "You are one of the most despicable humans I've ever had the displeasure of meeting Steven Grant Rogers. Heaven's door will forever be closed to you. Even hell's too good for you."
"It doesn't matter," Beelzebub sounded bored. "Lucifer already staked his claim."
"My brother's always been the creative type," Michael gave Steve a cold smile before stalking out of the room.
Beelzebub flicked one more disdainful glance at the human before leaving as well.
"You disgust me," Rhodes said, turning to leave himself.
"I'm a good man!" Steve shouted at him.
Rhodes glanced over his shoulder with cold eyes.
"If you ever were, you lost that a long time ago. You're nothing but a selfish bastard. And you deserve everything coming to you, Rogers."
The super soldier seethed in silence as he was left alone. They were wrong. He was a good man, much better than some demon.
Good becomes great after all.