Chapter 16
Howard Stark stood there, gun pointed at the group. Bucky was paralyzed with fear, the group stood incredibly still. Tony put his hands up, slowly walking towards his father.
“Dad put the gun down,” he said sternly. Howard just shook his head. “Dad, please,” Tony tried again, voice breaking.
“You’re disappointing me, son,” Howard spoke up, gun still pointed at the group. “I want the merman back.”
“He doesn’t want to go back, dad,” Tony said calmly, slowly approaching Howard. “I don’t blame him, what your doing is wrong and sadistic.”
“They killed your mother Anthony,” Howard said almost hysterically. This was news to Bucky, he was confused.
“She was one of them, dad, I was one of them,” Tony cried, pleading for his dad to drop the gun. “You can’t hate them, at least if you love me, you can’t.” Bucky stood there wide-eyed, everything was starting to make sense.
“No, Tony you’re not one of them,” Howard shook his head madly.
Tony nodded fiercely with tears streaming down his face, “I am, Winnie told me everything.” Bucky looked at his mom, she was stoic. Bucky had never heard anything about Tony’s mom from his mother. It’s something she was ashamed of, she couldn’t save her best friend.
Bucky saw a quick movement out of the corner of his eye. Wanda was crouched down in the bushes assessing the situation with concern. Howard still had the gun pointed at the group, she had to be careful if she was going to stop him.
Wanda swiftly stepped forward, everyone could see her except for Howard. Howard had picked up on the tension in the group, he slowly turned around. He spotted Wanda, she tried her best to yank the gun out of his hand, but it discharged. She pried the gun out of his fingers and hit him over the head and he crumpled on the ground.
The world moved in slow motion, Bucky’s ears still ringing from the gunshot. Bucky screamed out when he heard Steve’s weak, “mom?” as collapsed onto the ground. His shirt soaked in his blood, he had taken a bullet to his torso.
Sarah rushed to him crouching down over him, “Steve?” she asked trying to wake him up. She was hysterical. She was sobbing.
Bucky was overcome with emotion, he turned to the bushes and started vomiting. His mom was next to him in an instant holding him close as he started to freak out. His breath coming out hitched as he cried. He watched the scene unfold in front of him.
Tony had shed his hoodie, Sarah had it pressed down on Steve’s abdomen. Bucky crawled to Steve who a few feet away and held his hand. They were cold and clammy.
Nat and Clint were huddled together she was in tears and he stood there silent and shocked. Sam was crying hard, wiping away tears and snot from his face.
“We need to get him to a hospital,” Tony said.
Sarah shook her head, “there’s no way he’s surviving the trip to the hospital. He has minutes.”
Wanda spoke up, she had guilt written all over her face. “I can take him to Strange, well all of us, it will take most of my strength, but I can create a portal that will take us there.”
Sarah nodded, a wild and desperate look in her eye as she wiped her brow and smeared Steve’s blood across her forehead.
Wanda waved her hand and the red mist began to appear, a portal was created. It was red and shimmery.
“Be quick!” Wanda yelled as she was shaking. Making portals are extremely difficult and exhausting.
Bucky helped Tony pick Steve up, George, Clint, and Sam helped as well, and they moved through the portal. Sarah, Nat, and Winnie followed and then Wanda who collapsed on the floor of Strange’s shop.
“Dr. Strange!” Bucky yelled as he laid Steve down on the floor. The man came running from the back, Shocked to see Steve laying on the ground bloody and barely alive.
He grabbed a few potions from the wall, he dumped them in Steve’s mouth. Nothing happened, Strange didn’t seem concerned though.
He sighed, “I gave Steve a potion that will block his pain and one that will slow his heart rate to stop the bleeding.” He grabbed a case from behind the counter oh his store, he pulled out surgical tools. “Sarah, we need to remove the bullet, will you help?” he asked holding out a scalpel. She nodded.
The surgery took only ten minutes, Strange feeding Steve a potion here and there while Sarah removed the bullet from her son’s body. It was dead silent in the room, Bucky couldn’t look away from his broken bloody boyfriend.
“None of my potions are going to be powerful enough to save Steve, we need to use the healing incantation.”
Wanda shook her head, “I’m too weak, I can’t do it.”
Strange looked at Bucky, “What about you, young Prince?”
Bucky shook his head, “I’ve never done on a person before, I’ve only ever practiced on seagrass.”
Winnie spoke up, “Wanda, Bucky, Strange grab hands,” she ordered. They did, Winnie joined them standing between Bucky and Strange. The others stepped back as the merpeople began singing. Merpeople incantations were mesmerizing, the others look upon them in wonder.
Their auras were intermingled, Bucky’s icy blue, Winnie’s Emerald Green, Wanda’s scarlet, and Dr. Strange’s navy blue. Nothing was happening, the four of them stopped singing.
“It’s not powerful enough,” Strange said.
Winnie squeezed her eyes shut in thought, “Tony grab my hand,” she finally said.
Tony was taken aback, “me? I can’t help you,” he said.
She laughed softly, “We won’t know until we try.”
He nodded and timidly grabbed, her hand, Bucky grabbed his other and looked at him confidently. ‘You got this’ he sent to Tony telepathically.
Tony looked grateful, ‘I’ll try my best,’ Tony sent back. Bucky’s face was clouded with surprise. ‘You heard that?’ Tony sent. Bucky smiled. Tony stood confidently as they began the incantation.
They sang lowly, nothing happened at first. The four original’s mist circled around each other, Bucky frowned. But as Tony began to pick up on the repetition of the song, a golden mist enveloped him, his eyes wide and smile taking up his face.
With Tony’s help, Steve’s wounds began to heal, and color returned to his face. They kept going, all surprised as Steve began growing muscles he’d never had before and seemingly growing a few inches.
Bucky pulled out of the circle and everyone stopped singing. Steve was still unconscious, but he looked healthy. Even more healthy than he did before he got shot. Sarah was by his side taking his pulse and cried in relief.
The group had healed all of Steve’s ailments. They just had to wait for him to wake up.
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Steve woke up to bright lights in his face. He felt amazing. He genuinely believed he had died, this had to be heaven. His last memory was of a bullet piercing through his stomach. There’s no way he felt this good, he was warm and wrapped up in blankets. He opened his eyes, he was greeted by the familiar sandy walls of Atlantis.
Steve was confused, he sat up slowly. It was morning, the sun was shining through Bucky’s underwater window. He was in Bucky’s room in Atlantis. Steve was confused as to how he got there, it didn’t matter, all that mattered was his beautiful sleeping boyfriend on the sofa by the window.
Steve made his way over to Bucky, but first, he caught a glimpse of himself in the mirror. This was not his body, it was his face but not his body. He stood taller, by at least 3 inches. Where normally his ribcage poked through his skin, it was now padded by well defined pectoral and latissimus dorsi muscles. He had 8-pack abs, he took a deep breath with no resistance, his asthma was gone. He then realized he was seeing clearly without his glasses.
He gaped at himself in the mirror and began laughing with joy. The noise seemed to wake Bucky up, “Steve?” he mumbled still half asleep.
“Buck, look at this, what happened to me?”
Bucky sat up and grumbled, “we went a little overboard with a healing incantation.”
Steve stared at himself mouth wide open, “this is amazing.”
Bucky chuckled, “Yeah Stevie I know for once in your life you are hot shit.”
“Jerk.”
“Punk.”