revivalproject | 02| Steve is an idiot

WHO: Steve Rogers
WHERE: In a cave, in a storm, and Network. Kinda.
WHAT: Being stupid, mostly
WHEN: Once the storm starts moving
WARNINGS: Nope

Steve crouches in the cave, nursing a nasty wound he took to his side. The medical information he has from the data point is telling him how to fix it but he's lost a little bit of blood and there's no super-human healing factor that is making up for it. The wound is also in such an awkward spot that Steve can barely even look at it properly, let alone do sutures. He moves further into the cave, feeling marginally better as he does so. Maybe getting away from the storm will stop its effects on him? It is worth a chance until he can concentrate enough to stitch. Or, maybe, he will find someone there who can do it for him...

The storm is moving. Steve can barely see straight, he's so close to the center of the storm, but he can tell its moving. And, honestly, if it weren't moving toward Temba, he'd be glad to see the back of it. As it is, he knows there isn't much time. The city is still so fragile and barely back together enough for it to really take a storm like this. Not to mention the people waiting, back there. People who thought they'd be safely away from this madness and were going to be badly surprised.

Steve races back to his ship. He's not a pilot, though, so the controls are a mystery to him. He grumbles and scowls, feeling impotent before taking his comm up and hitting the network.

This is Steve Rogers of the Bishop. If there are any pilots out there, we need to get back to Temba. I'm looking for a ride and anyone else who wants to help prepare the city.

It's not the first person he's seen in the fog. Steve has been seeing these ghosts for the whole storm. People he knew. People he didn't know. People who had disappeared from here and people who had faces similar to the ones here. He'd managed mostly to ignore them all but this. This was different. This was out of his memories both from home and from before. It's enough to stop him in his tracks, storm be damned.

The Winter Soldier. Not Bucky. No. He'd refused that name. He'd refused any name at all. But there he was in his black armor, arm shining in a sun that wasn't here. He looks straight at Steve, face hard. For a second there is a moment when Steve forgets he is a ghost and almost braces for a fight. But the ghost turns and walks away. He turns, once, to glance back, and then continues walking.

And Steve, damn himself, follows.

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The voice strikes him as unfamiliar. Steve looks up and sees someone a bit younger than he was hoping to find. But then again, Tommy and Billy were more than capable and he seemed the same rough age. He manages to get closer before he flops onto the floor in his attempt to sit.

"No," he admits. "I took a pretty sharp rock to the side, here. Usually wouldn't be a problem, but right now?"

He lets out a humorless laugh and tilts his head against the wall.

"Don't suppose you've done stitches before, have you?"

Teddy pushes up onto his knees and crawls closer to where the man settles down. He doesn't need medical knowledge to know that it looks bad. Of all the people he could have come across he ends up with a teenager who has never had to attend to his own wounds before.

Slowly, he shakes his head, feeling bad about his lack of experience.

"No, sorry. But maybe I can manage with some instruction?"

It's the best he can offer and at least he manages to sound certain about it.

"We can certainly try..." Steve tries to smile but it comes out as a wince. His whole face contorts with it as he reaches to pull his ripped shirt up. The wound is slowly closing but it's bleeding a lot faster than his abbreviated powers can manage.

"Here," he hands over a small pack full of medical supplies. "I'm a medical specialization so I can walk you through it. There's a...a needle in there. And there's medical thread. Just. Put the thread through the end and...and there is a pink bottle you can squeeze onto your hand and the needle. It'll clean it."

Teddy accepts the pack, setting it carefully in his lap, and begins pulling supplies out of it. He locates the pink bottle first and opens it, squeezing some on his hand before moving on to pick up the needle, which he also cleans.

Getting the thread through the end of the needle proves to be difficult, and it takes him a couple of tries. "Sorry, that part was a little tricky, but I've got it now," he says, holding up the threaded needle so Steve can see.

"What's next?"

Steve nods, appeased with the job he's doing already. "Put some of the pink stuff onto the wound. And then...I'm sorry. It's not going to be pretty, but you're gonna need to push the needle through the wound and then sort of make a square knot at the end." He pauses and remembers that not everyone has a 1940's understanding of sewing.

"Do you know a square knot?"

For what it's worth, Teddy has seen plenty of gruesome sights, so the idea of pushing a needle through skin, while unsettling, is not going to be enough to gross him out entirely. Besides, all he has to do is worry about how this guy could potentially bleed out if he doesn't do it.

Pouring some more of the pink stuff onto his hand, he begins to gently rub it onto the wounded area. But he pauses at the man's question. He knew that the thread would need to be knotted somehow, but not that there was a specific knot for it.

"Um...no. Is that a Boy Scout thing?"

He didn't even know you could make a knot square.

Steve has to laugh. "Yeah, I guess it kind of is." And an army thing. And a just...really old thing to learn, he guesses. But that's fine. He can work around it. "It's fine. Just pinch the skin closed and sew it through, make a loop, and then put the needle through that loop to sew it closed. You'll have to do that a few times until the wound is shut."

It doesn't have to be proper nor does it have to be clean. Once Steve is out of the storm it will heal up on its own in seconds. All this needs to do right now is stop him from bleeding out in a damn cave. Steve leans his head back and just breathes through his own dizziness.

"Let me know if it isn't working. I'm just...going to close my eyes for a second." He's already bled so much. At least this far into the cave he can tell it's getting a bit better instead of worse.

It sounds easy enough. And familiar too if he judges by the times he's seen someone getting stitched up in a movie or on TV. He knows what the action should look like in a very rudimentary kind of way at least.

"Alright. I'l going to start now so just...brace yourself as best you can." He can't even imagine how much this is going to hurt, but he doesn't trust himself to do it too quickly. Pinching the edges of the wound together with his free hand, he brings the needle close with the other and slowly begins pushing the needle through.

"Just try not to pass out on me, okay?" He might need more instructions if things go sideways.

"I've had worse pain than this, pal," he says softly. Without the serum he'd been beat up plenty. Bucky had stitched him up so many times he had nearly lost track. He could handle this. As long as he stayed conscious the pain was the least of his problems.

"I don't think we've met, yet," he says to distract himself and ward off the first wave of drowsiness. "Steve Rogers. Earth."

"That's...not actually comforting information." If anything it kind of puts more pressure on him to make sure he doesn't hurt the man anymore than he already is. But talking does help ease some of his nerves as he pulls the stitch through the other side and brings it back around to start on the next row.

"Steve..." His voice trails off and his hand pauses for a stunned moment. Holy crap! He's stitching up Captain America. Maybe not his Captain America but a Captain America. "Uh nice to meet you. I'm Teddy Altman. Also from Earth. A different one."

"Teddy?" Steve knows that name. For a second, it numbs the pain as he tries to place exactly where. It comes to him a second later with a broken laugh. "Teddy! Billy's Teddy? I think I've heard about you. You're his boyfriend?"

God, it would be awkward if this was another universe where that wasn't the case. Or if they weren't together yet where Teddy was from. Steve winces at himself more than the stitch and shakes his head a little.

"I mean. You could be from somewhere else. I just. I know of a Teddy that Billy knows. Maybe the same, maybe not..."

"No, you're right. That's me." It's kind of a relief that he already knows Billy. The twins have told him a little about the other Avengers who are here, but Steve is the first one he's run into so far.

"Billy and I are engaged actually." He smiles softly as he brings the needle through the skin for last time and knots the ends.

"All done. How's it feel?"

"What?!" Steve ignores the question as he looks at Teddy in stunned amazement. Right before he beams a smile at him and claps his shoulder. "Engaged! How about that! Congratulations, you two. That's fantastic news!"

Steve makes a note to tell Billy congratulations as well. He's fond of him and his brother. Deeply so. He honestly can't wait to attend their wedding, if it has to happen here.

He tests his side a little and it isn't pretty but it will hold until they get back to Temba. "This is perfect," he lies. "Thank you, Teddy. You may have just saved my life. I owe you."

02| Steve is an idiot

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