Summary: Steve groaned again, slumping against her and giving her a perfect view of the wound on his head. It almost looked like his skull was dented even though there was a massive bump nearby. She didn't dare touch the spot, knowing that's what was causing him pain and had likely given him a concussion.

"What happened?" she asked softly, brushing his hair back from his forehead.

"Thanos has one hell of a punch," Steve mumbled.

Breathe. It was the only thing she knew she could do at the moment and even that hurt more than it should have.  Just breathe.  We can panic later.

Stumbling blindly through the forest, clutching her abdomen that was really, really painful (honestly, should it hurt this much?), Natasha tried not to panic until she was certain it wouldn't make things worse.  For all she knew, the huge blast had just been a tree falling over and the sick feeling in her stomach was from a few broken ribs (maybe that why she was in so much pain).  However, coming across Steve in a clearing and watching him collapse in a heap on the ground confirmed the blast had not just been a tree.

"What happened?"

Who asked that? She looked up from Steve's form to see Rhodey and Bruce staring at Steve in shock.  Where's Sam and Wanda? She'd told them to check in often, why hadn't she heard from them in a while?

"We lost,"  Steve mumbled, barely audible from where he was hunched over on the ground.  She went numb, unable to feel or think anything as she tried to understand what it meant that they lost.  Did that mean Thanos was their ruler?  What was going on that made her feel so sick about the prospect of losing?

"What does that mean?"  Bruce asked.  Steve looked up at him, blinking twice before focusing on his face.

Natasha frowned, not hearing Steve's brief explanation as she watched him closely.  He didn't look good.  Well, that wasn't really true.  He looked almost fine like he did after most battles.  His eyes, however, seemed to be struggling to focus and no matter how hard he may be trying to prevent it, his words still slurred when he spoke.

When he finished his short explanation, he brought a hand up to his head and Natasha hurried over to his side.  He did a doubletake when he saw her before engulfing her in a tight hug.  Ignoring the reason she'd approached him in the first place, Natasha melted into his arms and hugged him back just as tightly.  Her body ached, but she wasn't about to let him go.  Something was wrong but maybe if she just stayed there in Steve's arms, it would all go back to normal.

Too soon, Steve's arms dropped and he groaned slightly, reminding her why she'd approached him at all.  In a rush of panic, Natasha pulled back and gently grabbed his head.  Steve groaned again, slumping against her and giving her a perfect view of the wound on his head.  It almost looked like his skull was dented even though there was a massive bump nearby.  She didn't dare touch the spot, knowing that's what was causing him pain and had likely given him a concussion.

"What happened?"  she asked softly, brushing his hair back from his forehead.

"Thanos has one hell of a punch,"  Steve mumbled.  That did the opposite of calm her worry, but she had to let him go in order to help him to a medical facility.  Beckoning Bruce over, she moved so she was no longer on top of Steve and the two helped him to his feet.  Steve groaned and his head dropped forward, causing worry to jolt through Natasha.  Rhodey led them out of the forest and they were almost far enough across the field to call for help when they stopped short.

Dust.  That was the only way to possibly describe it.  Ashes seemed too solemn, but dust didn't seem much better.  Natasha had to blink a couple times and confirm with Rhodey that her eyes weren't deceiving her.  When he looked just as horrified as her, she knew the people turning into dust across the battlefield was not her imagination.

"He did this,"  Rhodey muttered.  Natasha nodded numbly.  "This is going to be happening all across the world.  At least we know what's happening.  No one else will."

"We need to tell them,"  Steve said.  Natasha gave him a sharp look.

"You need to see a doctor,"  she reminded him as they continued across the field, moving faster than they had before.  "Rhodey and I will take care of that while Bruce makes sure you don't have a bad concussion."

If Steve wanted to argue, he didn't.  Instead, he stumbled between Natasha and Bruce all the way up to the palace until doctors came rushing out to take him and Bruce inside.  Natasha ignored the panic that rose at being separated from Steve and instead focused on finding someone who could broadcast an announcement all over the world.

Unsurprisingly, it didn't take long before someone had successfully hacked every news network and Rhodey and Natasha were standing in front of the cameras.  Not having had much time to think out a thoughtful and easy way to break the news, they were left to make it up as they went.  Undaunted by this fact, Natasha spoke up as soon as she was informed they were live.

"My name is Natasha Romanoff,"  she began.  Start nice and easy.  No need to cause worldwide panic with breaking news. "I know many of you know me and some of you may hate me, but right now I'm here to tell you what's going on.

"Less than twenty-four hours ago, an alien named Thanos arrived on our planet with a plan to destroy our earth.  He needed to capture all six infinity stones and as you can see, he has succeeded.  The effects of the infinity stones are unknown other than the fact that we know people are disappearing."

Natasha paused, trying to catch her breath and finding it more difficult than she expected.  Rhodey looked at her, hiding his concern well from the cameras but not from her.  Seeming to understand she needed a minute, Rhodey continued to explain how the Avengers had split up into different teams: Tony taking some into space to protect the stones there and Steve leading a team in Wakanda to fight the ground battle.

"We lost, but that does not mean we're done fighting,"  he said.  Finally catching her breath, Natasha spoke up again, coughing slightly as she started.

"I know watching the people you love disappear is terrifying, but we can't turn against each other right now,"  she said.  She coughed, covering her mouth quickly when she felt something warm in her throat.  She wiped her chin quickly then continued.  "Thanos has disappeared and may appear at any time.  If you see him—and you will know if you do—let us know as quickly as possible.  We will—"

She broke off mid-sentence to cough again, curling slightly as her abdomen screamed in protest and more warmth crept up her throat.  Forcing down a cough, she glanced at her hand as she pulled it away to find blood splattered against it.

"We'll have to work together to stop him,"  she said quickly, dissolving into another coughing fit.

She turned away, letting Rhodey take over again as she fought off another bout of coughing.  Her head swam, her throat screamed at her to stop suppressing the cough, and her abdomen demanded she pay attention to it.  When her vision faltered, she threw her arms out to catch herself if she fell.  One of her hands met Rhodey's arm and he immediately turned to grab her before she could collapse.

"Someone get medical!"  he yelled, gathering Natasha in his arms and ducking off the screen.  The last thing Natasha heard before completely passing out was someone yelling something in Wakandan.

* * * * *

Steve's head was killing him.  He could vaguely remember getting beat up as a kid and having pretty bad headaches after, but this was killer.  According to the doctor, he was suffering from a major concussion due to the blow Thanos had given him.  Thanks to his upgraded healing, he would likely be back to normal with minimal effects by the end up the week, but until then, he would be in pain.  Luckily for Steve, Wakanda had many types of pain killers that wouldn't make his concussion worse and had been made to withstand fast metabolisms.

"How are you feeling?"  Bruce asked, walking in after the doctor left.  Steve shrugged, something he considered a great improvement since he could do it without wanting to pass out.

"How are Nat and Rhodey doing?"  Steve asked. In reply, Bruce turned on the TV, not having to flick through any channels at all before they saw Rhodey and Natasha talking to them.

Steve couldn't help but smile a bit at the sight of Natasha, introducing herself to the world after having been in hiding for so long.  He frowned, however, when she paused to breathe and immediately knew something was wrong.  It wasn't obvious and he was fairly certain no one else would notice, but the way she stood didn't look right: slightly hunched and breathing just erratically enough he could see it.

"Is this live?"  Steve asked.  He was fairly certain it was, but then again, he'd seen some TV shows that were "live" only to find out they had been shot earlier in the day.

"Not exactly,"  Bruce admited.  Based on what Bruce had heard, most live broadcasts had at least a little bit of a delay.  "That way if something goes wrong, they can stop it before it airs.  I'd say there's maybe a minute delay or so at least."

Natasha was talking again now, but she was coughing a lot and he watched as she covered her mouth then wiped her chin.  Rhodey was hiding his worry well, Steve had to hand him that.

Natasha finished her sentence and the screen changed abruptly, giving them a number to call if they spotted Thanos and reminding them not to worry.  A minute later, the broadcast started over.

"Something's wrong,"  Steve said.  He knew it was true and Bruce must have also because he didn't argue.  It was a weird place to stop the broadcast, very sudden and unexpected.  "I'm going to go find them."

Steve was off his hospital bed before Bruce could stop him.  He swayed slightly and by the time he regained his vision, Bruce was at his side, ready to help him walk.  Steve smiled in appreciation as he and Bruce began their hunt through the medical wing to find Natasha.

It didn't take long to hear yelling and Steve's head pounded.  Whether it was because of the noise hurting his concussion or the panic he felt when he spotted Natasha unconscious in Rhodey's arms, he wasn't sure what caused the painful pounding in his ears.  Nevertheless, he rushed forward, stumbling slightly before accepting Bruce's assistance.  By the time he reached Rhodey, Natasha had already been laid in an operating room and Rhodey was sitting pathetically on the floor right outside.

"What happened?"  Steve asked, coming to an awkward stop in front of Rhodey.  Rhodey got to his feet and glanced at the door Natasha was behind.

"I don't know,"  he muttered, running a hand down his face.  "She wasn't doing too well, then she started coughing up blood."

"We saw the broadcast,"  Bruce told him.  He assured Rhodey they cut it short so the world didn't see what happened.  "Did she say anything?"

"No,"  Rhodey replied, following Bruce and Steve down the hall towards a bench.  "She just kind of collapsed and everything went into chaos."

The hall went quiet for a second then Rhodey turned to Steve and asked,  "How are you feeling?"

"Better than I should,"  Steve mumbled before dropping his head into his hands and trying to forget everything that was currently going on.

* * * * *

Natasha woke up sharply, not familiar with her surroundings and immediately on edge.  She had hardly blinked when suddenly Steve, Bruce, and Rhodey were fussing over her, making sure she was alright before calling in a nurse anyway.  She was surprised to find the pain of her abdomen was gone and her throat didn't burn after coughing up blood.

"You had severe internal bleeding, Miss Romanoff,"  the nurse explained, handing Natasha her chart before adjusting the IV she was connected to.

Natasha looked up in surprise, not having noticed she was hooked up to any pain killers and deciding not to think about it when she couldn't figure out how the machine worked anyway.  Everything in Wakanda was more complicated than she had the energy to figure out.

"I don't feel like it,"  Natasha said, reading over her chart.  How was she sitting up?  The chart read eight broken ribs, a punctured lung, a lacerated spleen, and a minor concussion.

"You're aware Wakanda has accelerated medicine,"  the nurse said, not unkindly.  Natasha nodded.  "Between that and the last two days of rest you've had, your body is almost back to normal."

"It's been two days?"  Natasha exclaimed.  What was going on outside?  Had their news broadcast been enough?  How were they on the hunt for Thanos?

As if sensing her sudden need to know what was going on, Steve grabbed her hand and stole her attention away from the nurse.  She released a breath she didn't know she'd been holding at the sight of him looking almost normal.  His eyes were focusing and he didn't look in pain at all.

"Rhodey and I did another broadcast,"  he explained.

They had wanted to make sure the last one didn't cause confusion and he assured her it had been cut off before she'd passed out.  Bruce had managed to figure out enough of Shuri's technology he had set up a tracking system.  It was connected to every camera and satellite system in the world and would notify them immediately if Thanos came back.  Even if a speck of dust broke the atmosphere, they'd be alerted to it.

"People are doing about as well as you'd expect,"  Rhodey told her.  She didn't know what she expected to hear, but at least it wasn't bad news.  As long as countries weren't blaming one another and risking war, she supposed they were doing good.

"Is Tony back?"  she asked.  She refused to believe he'd been one to disappear.  If anyone was going to kill Tony, it wouldn't be a purple alien with a vendetta against the universe.

"Not yet,"  Rhodey replied softly.  She nodded and handed him her chart to return to the end of her bed.  Steve was still holding her hand, scrunched as close to her as he could be without actually climbing onto the bed and hugging her.

"I'm gonna go check on the search,"  Bruce said.  Rhodey nodded and muttered something about trying to find the Queen, the last remaining royal by the sounds of it.  Grateful to be left alone, Natasha didn't argue with them.  When Steve didn't even attempt to move from his spot, she reached over and pulled him close herself.

"I'm glad you're okay,"  she mumbled, gently reaching up to where the bump on his head had been.  It was still there, but much smaller than it had been when she'd first discovered it.

"Nat, I'm fine,"  Steve assured her.  He climbed onto the bed beside her, being careful not to hurt her even though she was mostly healed already.  "You, on the other hand, were much more injured than I was."

"In my defense, I didn't know,"  she told him.  It was a weak argument and they both knew it, but for the moment it didn't matter.  Steve held her tightly and Natasha returned the favour, wrapping both her arms and legs around his body as she laid on top of him.

"What happens now?"  Steve asked softly, burying his face in her neck.  Natasha just sighed and shrugged as best she could.

"We do what we always do,"  she replied, holding him tighter.  "We figure it out together."