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You woke up, disoriented. Everything was a bit blurry and you couldn’t feel all of your body. Groaning, you tried to move, but it was like you were stuck in place. Panic rose in your chest. This wasn’t good. Where were you? Where was the team?
That was when it all came back to you.
The Avengers were on a mission in a jungle in Brazil. Hydra has taken to going somewhere a bit more tropical than usual.
You happened to get separated from the team. Walking through the jungle, you were careful to avoid any obvious traps that Hydra had set out. What you didn’t watch out for was the critters.
You felt fine until a wave of dizziness overtook you. Your legs began to feel like jello, and you felt uncomfortably hot, more so than before. You eventually collapsed. Your entire body was trembling and you could barely get air into your lungs. Gasp after gasp of trying to get air in your system.
You tried to get up, but your right leg was completely immobile. It had to be a snake bite. You did your best to find the GPS that you had on you. After the longest minute of your life you were able to successfully press the red button on the device, alerting your team to your distress.
Before you were able to be saved you fell unconscious.
When you woke up, you were in a humid dark grey room. You knew you weren’t back at the compound. The only place you could be was in the Hydra base. You couldn’t move despite having no restraints which honestly felt like they were just taunting you. Tears of pain and frustration welled in your eyes. It wasn’t fair. How could you be taken down by something as small as a little snake. Even superheroes have their limits, you supposed.
You felt your pocket and noticed that your tracker wasn’t there. It must have still been on the ground where you collapsed.
“Hello, I’m surprised you’re awake right now,” a man greeted you. In your delirious state you could barely see him. Everything was blurred together in the dark room.
“You’re probably going to wish you had stayed unconscious.” The man grinned as he gestured for someone to come over, not that you could see it. Despite being incoherent, the roar of a chainsaw you knew what that meant for you. You did all you could do and whimpered.
“Now I know it’s a bit extreme,” the man calmly stated, “but this way we can stop it from spreading, yeah?”
You wanted to scream back at him, no! There were so many better ways of doing this. Why did this incompetent man have to get a hold of you?
“We sedated you before coming here, but it seems like you’ll just have to be conscious.”
Tears began falling from your face. You wished you had never gotten separated from the team. How could you be a superhero if you had an amputated leg? Sure Barnes had an amputated arm, but that was different!
The blade of the chainsaw unceremoniously embedded itself into your skin. You screamed for a few seconds before completely passing out.
That led you to where you were now. You raised yourself on your elbows and looked down at your legs. Your left one was just as it had been before. Your right leg, however, was just a stub. Bloody bandages were wrapped around what was left of your leg. You choked out a sob at the sight. You were never going to walk normally again.
You’d prefer it if they had just killed you. Despite the pain you should be in, you felt perfectly fine. They must have had you hooked up with some serious drugs. It wasn’t until later that the throbbing pain where your leg was left a stub began. It was mild at first, but the pain kept growing until it became unbearable.
Where was everyone? Surely they could have found you by now. Your tracker couldn’t have been far from the base. All you wanted was to get the hell out of there. The pain became so insufferable that you passed out once again.
When you woke up, you were in a sterile light grey room. You could have cried in relief. You were back at the compound. Safe and sound. You heard your name being called and looked over to see Bruce and Tony, along with Natasha, Steve, and Bucky.
“Hey, guys,” you greeted, voice weak and dry. Tony grabbed you some water and helped you drink it.
“We’ve got good news and we’ve got bad news.”
You frowned. How much more misfortune could you take? “What’s the bad news?”
Tony sighed, setting the, now empty, cup of water on the table near your bedside.
“Well, the hack job they did on your leg was really bad… in fact, when we got there it was infected… badly.” Tony looked at the others before returning his vision to you. “We had to go back and amputate it some.”
You closed your eyes and sighed deeply. “Well, that leg was already rendered useless by them… what’s a little more leg gonna do?”
“There’s good news too!” Tony was quick to reassure. “We’ve already finished the design for your prosthetic. It should be perfect. We just have to tweak a few things and you’ll be up in no time!”
“Great,” you deadpanned, not really in the mood for anything cheerful. Everyone left after catching up with you a bit. They were all glad that you were okay… well, as okay as you were going to get.
“Hey, now I’m not the only one with a hack job from Hydra,” Bucky smirked when everyone left. You just huffed out a laugh, rolling your eyes.
“Yeah, now we’re practically one and the same.”