''Kat, you still alive?'' Natasha joked over the comms. She hadn't heard from her in a long time, making her a little worried. She knew Katya's lack of luck in fights when it came to getting hurt. More than once did she need to stich up cuts or gunshot wounds Katya couldn't reach herself.

Katya removed her right hand from where she put pressure on the wound and moved her bloody hand to her ear. ''I'm all good, my shoulder might need some stitches though. And the world is spinning a lot faster than it should.''

Natasha chuckled, although worry filled her voice when she answered. ''You can never come out of a fight unharmed, can you?'' She wished she could come down and check on her, but as long as Loki wasn't caught yet, she needed to stay in the Tower.

''I love having you fix me up,'' Katya replied, returning her hand to her shoulder. It didn't help, but it made her feel better. Even though Natasha couldn't see her face, it wasn't hard for her to imagine the smirk that was on Katya's lips. 

Tony made a disgusted noise as he tried to stand up. He was a little wobbly but he managed, ignoring Steve's help. ''Get a room!''

''I see Stark is fine,'' Natasha joked. She had been way closer to the portal and saw him disappear into it better than the people on the ground. She hadn't expected to be so distressed about it, but she was. Tony had weaseled his way through her defenses.

''Define 'fine','' Katya answered while staring up Tony, who walked closer to her, a smirk on her face. 

He narrowed his eyes at her. ''Watch out Petrova or you'll get to pay for your own shawarma after,'' he threatened her. The smile didn't completely reach his eyes through. They held fear, true fear. 

''I may need to anyway,'' she replied, gesturing towards Stark Tower, which only held the letter 'A' now. ''That building looks like it will need a lot of restauration.''

Tony looked up at his Tower, truly seeing the destruction himself for the first time. The playful look in his eyes got replaced by sadness. After giving a little sigh, he said, ''Yeah, I guess it does.'' 

His eyes lingered on the broken tower a little longer before ripping them away and turning back to Katya, who was still on the ground. Stark bowed down to pick her up and fly to where Loki was on the top floor of his building, but her glare stopped him. ''Right. Touch again and I'll lose my hand. I'm quite attached to that hand so I'll just go, bye.'' 

He didn't know how fast he needed to get away from her. Even bloody and wounded, Katya was still terrifying to him. 

She laughed when he took to the sky and Steve and Thor just stared at her weirdly. These guys had no sense of humor. Not her sense of humor anyway.

''I could use a little help here,'' she said when nobody moved to help her up. Not that she needed the help, it was just nice to know she didn't fall on her head again when her body wasn't ready to stand up.

Steve snapped out of his staring and grabbed her good shoulder gently, not wanting to hurt her. Katya tried sitting up first. When that proved to be okay - no throwing up, nausea or more dizziness - he pulled her up to her feet calmly. 

Gravity immediately pulled on her entire body, begging her to lay down again. It needed rest, it didn't want to walk all the way to the building. Steve offered to carry her, but Natasha would never let that go and she didn't want to feel so weak and humiliated, so she declined.

He still wrapped his hand around her waist to carry most of her bodyweight. Katya really didn't like him touching her. Especially on her waist, somewhere only Natasha was allowed to touch her. But she tolerated it because one, she needed the support to not fall over and two, he was being polite.

They took off like that. Katya secretly leaning on Steve more than she would like to admit, stumbling more and more the farther they walked. It took ages to reach the building that was only six-hundred feet away, but Steve didn't complain once, although Katya could sense he was restless.

Finally, they arrived at the front door. Or better, what used to be the front door. The glass was broken, allowing Steve and Katya to step through the shards inside. Steve pressed the button for the elevator, which, luckily enough, still worked, and dragged Katya in before pressing the button leading to the top floor of the tower.

Goosebumps had formed on Katya's skin and she shivered with how cold she was. This was not a good sign. Between her head and her shoulder, she had lost a lot of blood and would probably need a blood transfusion to fix this. She hated needles and the idea of someone else's blood in her body. Made her feel weird. 

Sweat dripped down her forehead, leaving trails down to her neck. Also a symptom of severe blood loss. Natasha was going to kill her for even coming up here and not going straight to the hospital. But Katya needed to see Loki before they took him away. Needed to stand over him.  

The heavy elevator doors finally opened and revealed a very torn up floor of Stark Tower. Glass lay everywhere and the wind made a lot of noise because the glass walls were missing. Everyone was there. Thor, Stark, Clint, even the Hulk had found his way up here. But the first person she always looked for was already on her way over to her, pressing the Scepter in Stark's hands when passing him.

Steve passed Katya over to Natasha immediately, probably happy he didn't have to drag her around anymore. But Natasha was far from happy with how Katya looked. Skin pale, a shiver going through her body every few seconds and sweat on her forehead. ''Иисус Христос, Katya, you look like you should have been dead already,'' she scolded her. 

A very weak smile managed to form on Katya's lips in response. ''Yeah, I think I need to sit.'' She dropped on the steps in the room. Her right hand clutching her left shoulder, trying to stop the bleeding. Natasha pushed that hand away and squeezed her shoulder with both hands hard, as if she tried to force the blood back in. A groan came from Katya as she did so, pain shooting down her arm.

''Why did you come up here? You should have gone to the hospital,'' Natasha hissed quietly. The deep crease between her brows told Katya she wasn't angry, just concerned about her health.

Katya sent her a smile that would hopefully put her at ease. ''I'm fine, Nat. It's not that bad.''

But it didn't have the effect she wanted. ''It's not- are you looking at it?'' Natasha exclaimed. 

Katya dropped her eyes from her worried face to her hands. They were already covered in blood, the deep red sticking to her skin. ''On second thought.'' 

Natasha shook her head. She was not the only reckless one in the team. ''Let's get you fixed up.'' 

How Katya made it down the elevator and into a SHIELD medical car, she had no idea. It was hard to focus with your heart beating in your ears and the world spinning more and more. What she did comprehend was Natasha's hands leaving her shoulder and being replaced by someone else's cold ones. In her state, she panicked a little when Natasha didn't follow her into the car, but now she understood she had important business in the Tower to take care off.

''I'll come find you after,'' Natasha said gently when panic showed up on Katya's face. Medics had to force the spy down on a stretcher and pushed her into the wagon. A needle was stuck in her arm, fluids flooding from the bag into her body. It was too late to prevent her from passing out though, her body couldn't hold on anymore.

Exhaustion and pain combined with the lack of blood in her body caused her vision to go black, surrendering her body to the people around her. 

~~~~~~~~

A very annoying beeping sound that made her want to throw the machine into a wall, woke her up. Oh, no, she was in a hospital. If Katya hated one thing, it was hospitals. She hated feeling so vulnerable and weak, displayed on a bed like she was the main attraction. 

Groaning when opening her eyes, the only color in the room grabbed her attention. A smiling but also worried redhead sat on the edge of the bed by her feet. She had sensed her waking up. Nothing missed Natasha's heightened senses. 

''Welcome back,'' she joked, but it didn't have her usual sarcasm to it. She was more worried than she showed.

Katya had no idea how long she had been out of it. If could have been weeks but also hours, because her body still felt like shit. ''Ugh, how long was I out?'' Her voice was raspy from the lack of hydration.

Natasha jumped off the bed and grabbed some water for her, which she gratefully accepted. ''The whole night.'' A little worry shone through in her voice, although it wasn't necessary at all. Beside the pain in her shoulder and the exhaustion, Katya felt fine. A little headache and a dry throat from the dehydration but that was all.

''Did we get him?'' she didn't need to say who she meant, understanding filling Natasha's eyes. 

She nodded slightly. ''Yeah, but the people are not happy with us.'' Only then did Katya notice the TV on the ceiling that played the news without sound. Natasha was probably watching it while waiting for her to wake up. 

The images on the TV showed the city, completely destroyed. Entire buildings needed to be built up from the ground again, the damage unfixable. Streets lay open and huge holes covered the black asphalt. Glass lay everywhere, taxi's turned upside down, street lanterns falling down, it was a huge mess that would cost billions to fix. 

Ripping her eyes away from the screen, they focused on Natasha again, who had a pained expression on her face. Katya knew she somehow blamed herself for this, even though they weren't the ones causing all this damage. 

Sitting up further, Katya put the glass on the bedside table and grabbed Natasha's hand with the same one. ''They're just looking for someone to blame and with Loki and the aliens gone, only we are left. People are scared, they just found out about aliens. They will do whatever they need to make themselves feel better and that is, apparently, blaming us.''

Natasha gave her hand a thankful squeeze while raising her eyebrow in a playful way, also adding that iconic smirk. ''When did you get so wise?''

Katya narrowed her eyes. ''You underestimate me, Romanoff. I know more than you think.'' The eye contact turned into a staring contest with both women enjoying the quiet of the room and the fact that they were both alive after this fight. 

Katya cleared her throat when she got lost in Natasha's green eyes, something that earned her a victorious smile she ignored. ''But, ehm, what is the diagnoses, doctor?'' She gestured to her shoulder which was heavily bandaged up. 

Natasha sighed while listing her injuries. ''A light concussion, huge wound on the back of your head, a third degree burn on your right upper arm, which is why it doesn't hurt, bruises everywhere including the one on your face-'' 

''My face?'' Katya cut her off with a little frown. She couldn't remember getting hit in the face during the fight. It didn't hurt either, not anyway at least.

''You sure you want to see it?'' The smirk on Natasha's face told her she thought it looked very funny. Probably half her face was blue.

''Nope, continue,'' Katya quickly said upon seeing her expression.

Natasha chuckled but continued anyway. ''You were quite lucky with your shoulder. It missed the bone and all the major arteries.'' There was something else, but she cut herself off from saying it. Her face was a lot more serious now, shoulders dropping a bit at having to deliver the bad news. 

''But?'' Katya pressed her when she didn't continue.

Natasha took a deep breath and just threw it out. ''But  it pierced a lot of the small ones and the muscles. They say it will take weeks before you can use that shoulder again. It may never fully heal at all.''

Katya dropped her head, looking at the hand that still held Natasha's. Only now Natasha comforted her more than the other way around. A messed-up shoulder wasn't something she could use in her line of work. It would hinder her from being able to punch hard with her left arm and it was a huge disadvantage in a fight. ''That's it?''

Natasha scoffed. ''What, you wanted more?''

Katya's suddenly realized how selfish she was right now, wallowing in her own despair, not knowing if her girlfriend was okay. ''What about you?''

Natasha averted her eyes, watching the TV instead. ''I'm fine,'' she replied, trying to brush her concern off, but Katya's narrowed eyes told her she didn't accept that. Sighing, Natasha answered honestly. ''Head wound, bruised ribs, some nice purple bruises everywhere else and a split lip.''

Katya glanced at her full lips. Not even on purpose, it just happened on its own. And indeed, a cut ran along the left side of them. ''No kisses for you the next few days then,'' she teased her. Their relationship didn't rely on the physical stuff, but Natasha did love stealing kisses every now and then. 

Katya's joke lifted the heavy tension and resulted in the smile returning on Natasha's face. ''Lucky for me, my lips are not the only place you can kiss me.'' 

Katya almost choked on air, the suggestion heating up her cheeks. She was usually the one with the sexual comments, although Natasha followed her down that road quickly. She didn't give in however, teasing her right back to get the same reaction out of her. ''Guess I'll have to find out how far those purple bruises go.''

''Hmm,'' Natasha hummed, keeping Katya's eyes trapped with her own. ''Might be difficult with that shoulder.''

Katya ignored the shivers going down her spine. ''Good thing I have two hands then.''

They had slowly leaned in more and more, neither wanting to give in first. But someone rudely interrupted their little moment, both women throwing a glare at their friend who walked in like nothing was wrong. 

Plopping down on Katya's other side, completely ignoring her grunt as pain shot up her shoulder, Clint smiled like they weren't throwing him death-glances. ''Oof, the sexual tension in here.''

Natasha looked ready to lunge at him while Katya laughed at her reaction. ''What do you want, Barton?'' Natasha growled, narrowing her eyes at him.

Clint got comfortable on the bed, taking in much more space than Katya at this point. ''Here to pick you both up. Thor's leaving with Loki in an hour and Katya is clearly not ready to go.'' His eyes scanned over Katya's face and messy hair.

''They're leaving today?'' Her blue eyes flashed from the man to the woman on both sides of the bed. She hadn't expected for SHIELD to just let the two gods go this easily. They clearly trusted Asgard's justice system to punish Loki.

Clint nodded, suddenly very serious. ''People are restless, he needs to go before unrest breaks out.''

Katya nodded, throwing the covers off her body in one big motion. The doctors had cut the top part of her uniform off to get to her injuries on both arms, but had left the bottom part on, not having a reason to cut that off as well. So she was left in her sports-bra and pants, nothing Clint hadn't seen before.

''What are you doing?'' Natasha asked worried, not wanting her to get out of bed already. She shot out of her chair as if she got stung by a bee. 

''I'm coming with. Got a god to punch.'' Katya hadn't gotten the chance to talk to Loki in person and to punch him for killing their friend and colleague. 

Natasha blocked her way out of the bed. ''No.''

''Nat,'' Katya sighed, really not wanting to deal with her protectiveness now. 

Natasha crossed her arms. ''No.''

''Nat.''

Natasha's eyes narrowed in frustration. ''Fine. But if I see you so much as wobble, you go straight back here.''

A triumphant smile formed on Katya lips. ''Yes, darling.'' She won these arguments sometimes, when she pulled exactly the right face. 

Natasha threw her a nasty look before stepping back, offering her hand so Katya could pull herself up. Her right arm was totally fine, so it was painless, but her body still screamed for sleep. That would have to wait though, the team waited for them.