The Flu

"Stark, what are you doing here?"  Fury demanded as Steve came into the office with the man he assumed was to blame for the defective shots in tow, Banner and Stark right behind him.

"Unlike your organization, my company arranged for our flu shots to be provided by a reputable company.  All safe and vaccinated against the flu."  Stark said with a smirk.

"Gamma radiation.  As good as a vaccine."  Bruce said.  "But I've had one of those too, to be on the safe side."

Well, at least that was one thing he wouldn't have to worry about.  Stark and Banner with the flu and a fever was a disaster waiting to happen.  "This is him?"  Fury said as he glared at the shaking man in front of him.  Okay, Victoria wasn't dead, and the situation at the Hub was nowhere near as bad as he had been afraid it would be, but still, this man had shut down his entire organization for days over a grudge.  And even though she wasn't dead, Victoria could very well never be the same again thanks to him.  "Name?"

"Everett Dalton."  Steve supplied.

"Mister Dalton."  Fury glared at the man.  "Thanks to your actions, I have over 300 people sick, and have been forced to place my entire organization on lock-down.  Do you know the damage you have done?  Missions to take down terrorists, to deal with threats you could not begin to imagine have been put on hold thanks to you.  People may well be dead now thanks to you.  One of my level 8 senior agents may have suffered brain damage thanks to you.  So you can be sure that I will be making your life miserable for the foreseeable future.  Maria, get him out here, and see if Romanoff is in the building.  I'm sure she would love to have a little chat with him."  Fury called to the agent standing in the doorway with Jasper.  And how had Jasper snuck up on him again?  Had he used a defective bell?

"Sir, I thought you said that one of your level 8 agents died from this?"  Steve said as soon as Dalton was gone.

"I thought she had, but we finally reestablished communications with the Hub and got an update.  No fatalities yet, but the doctors are still saying with how high her temperature went that she's likely suffered brain damage."

"You've had an update?  What did they say?"  Bruce asked.

"Fever down to 101 and she's sleeping under light sedation.  Apparently she got locked into a room that was overheated for awhile,"

"Overheated room.  That could do it.  And that would probably rule out damage to the part of the brain controlling temperature regulation.  That's good."

"But the doctors here are still expressing concerns about how high her temperature was, regardless of what caused it."  Fury said.  "The seem to think that brain damage is likely from that alone, and they've raised concerns about possible septic shock."

"Septic….  Is that your agent?"  Bruce asked as he saw the pictures on Fury's phone.  "Can I look?"

"Look, definitely look."  Jasper said before Fury could say anything.  Was Doctor Banner maybe suggesting that there was some hope for Victoria being okay?

He really didn't like to try giving a diagnosis like this, but….  "You need to hire new doctors."  Bruce said after studying the pictures for several minutes.  "Whoever told you she might have septic shock, they don't know what they're talking about."

"You're sure of that?"  Fury demanded.

"Positive."  Bruce looked at the pictures again.  "Heartrate's 85, O2 levels are good, her blood pressure's steady.  Only one IV, and I'm betting that's mainIy for hydration and probably some calories.  I don't know how whoever suggested septic shock came up with that.  She isn't presenting with symptoms of that at all, except for the fever."

When he got his hands on that doctor…  "What about brain damage?  Can you give me any odds on the potential for brain damage, with a temperature of 106.2 even though they brought it down?"

"I would need to talk to someone there to be sure of anything."  Brain damage, that would be tricky to diagnose without consulting with the people on site, or actually being there.  "Have they said how long her temperature was that high?  If they were able to bring it down fast enough, that would have been a big help in protecting her brain.  Has she been conscious at all?"

"Semi-conscious."

"Right, semi-conscious.  They said they were able to wake her up enough to feed her something."  Felix added.  Hope, he was feeling hope coming back.  Maybe Victoria had a chance of coming out of this and being herself?  She would kill him, of course, over the obituary, but if that meant she was okay….

"Okay, she was able to swallow.  She could probably follow verbal commands as well.  It might be a little hard to check for orientation as long as she's sedated, but…."  Bruce paused.  He really, really would like to talk to someone who was actually there before he offered a diagnosis, but still, what Fury and company had told by the doctors had been so negative, and so obviously wrong….  "Following verbal commands, the fact she can swallow, those are good signs.  I don't know who this lady is, but I wouldn't write her off yet."

"Thank you, Doctor Banner.  I'll definitely keep that in mind."  And he would definitely need to make another call to Coulson.  "Stark, besides the sick agents, the Hub's experiencing some sort of mechanical problems that they're lacking parts to repair.  If I can get lists of what they need, can you have them delivered?"

"Seeing as my employees actually got shots to PREVENT the flu this year, yeah, I think we can manage."  Stark said with a laugh.  "What sort of problems are we talking about?"

"Enough that they had to cut power to two thirds of the building.  I'll get lists for you."

"Fine, and I'll call Pepper and make sure we have a plane ready to go as soon as you can tell me what you need."  And maybe he would tell Pepper he was making another little trip.  Whatever was going on at that Shield base, he really, really wanted to get a look.  Bruce would be happy to go along to help all of those sick people, and Rogers would as well.  An Avengers road trip!