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The thing about losing superhuman powers is that it's easy to forget what a regular human can and cannot handle.
Even before John was a super soldier, he was near enhanced compared to an average Joe. Fastest, strongest, most efficient in any team. He was the picture of a perfect soldier, and for that he'd been both blessed and condemned.
Still, after so long spent with the serum in his blood, John had forgotten what it was like to be human. How much he relied on unnatural healing just to get through his missions. How much he depended on his new body when he pulled unhealthy habits.
Losing them was like losing a limb, and he knew the rest of the Thunderbolts felt similarly. Excluding Yelena (and Bob, sort of), they were all used to their superhuman capabilities. Hell, the rest of the team had been meta humans for far longer than John himself- if it was disconcerting to him it had to be like living in a new body for them.
But what could they do? They were still better fighters than most people on earth (probably). They were still superheros (technically). They had jobs to do (definitely). So even though Yelena was probably right when she said they should take some time off to adapt to the loss of their powers, when Valentina gave them a new mission, they had to go.
It felt a lot more like being another soldier than being a superhero, John wouldn't lie. Like he was more disposable cannon fodder tossed into battle because his higher ups had things to do, points to make. He didn't exactly want to go along with the mission, but really he didn't want to be part of this team either. So it evened out, probably. Hopefully.
Naturally, it goes wrong within minutes of touching down. Naturally, Valentina's intel was incorrect, and naturally there are more people than they can handle, and naturally people start getting shot.
Alexei goes down fast, forgetting he can't just tank a taser anymore. Bucky drags him out before he can get hurt, telling the others to abandon the mission.
So naturally. Naturally Yelena had to go hero mode (because she's somehow gained morals in the few years she'd left the red room, which was good for her but also a pain in the ass sometimes). And naturally John followed even as Ava yelled that they were being stupid, because where Yelena goes, he follows.
And naturally, when they started shooting at Yelena, John threw himself in the line of fire. Because that was what he did.
And sure, maybe he'd sort of forgotten about the whole… no powers, thing. Usually he could handle getting shot by a few stray bullets no problem. Or at least, with minimal concern. Like, two days recovery max.
Unrelated, he'd sort of forgotten how much it sucked to get shot as a regular human. Wow did that adrenaline burn out fast.
"You're so stupid. Stupid, all of you. Complete idiots."
John snickers and immediately regrets it, bullet wounds twinging at the movement.
"You're so dumb, Walker. Seriously! You need to stop doing this!"
John rolls his eyes at her, unable to resist the urge to argue even with his brain leaking out of his various bullet holes.
"Maybe you should stop throwing yourself at problems without expecting any follow up. Seriously, the solo savior act got old after the Void." He snaps back.
Yelena rolls her eyes, even as she's angrily stuffing a wound on his thigh with scrap fabric she found… somewhere.
"Oh no, you're right! I should have left! Sorry that I didn't want a terrorist organization to get away with two ships of bombs at their disposal. I'm sure that we could have let that go unchecked just fine!"
"You didn't even want to go on this mission," John grunts as she wraps the wound tightly and moves on to the shoulder that he's been carefully avoiding, "and now you'd kill yourself finishing it?"
Yelena glares, deadpan. In that way that says she got tired of his shit about twenty minutes ago.
"Yeah, I'm sure you don't understand that at all."
He snorts, despite himself. And then groans immediately afterwards as his shoulder soaks through three layers of fabric. Yelena curses.
"Ok, we need to go. Like, right now."
"No shit," John snarks, even as he's being awkwardly wrenched up to lean on Yelena's shoulders. It makes him surprisingly dizzy- or maybe not that surprising. He'd lost a lot of blood. If he was still enhanced, John would probably be fine right about now. Alas, he was back to being a regular human, and was therefore probably dying of blood loss. Damn.
See, this is why he always tried to body block Yelena. Could you imagine if she'd constantly got shot? And had to deal with this? He was doing her a favor, for sure. This sucks royally.
"Maybe next time lets try both not getting shot. I feel like that would maybe go a little better."
Did he say any of that out loud?
"Yeah. Most of it. I think. I don't know what your thoughts sound like."
"Huh, weird. I might be dying."
John gasps sharply as Yelena grips him tighter, right next to a gash in his chest. Which. Ow, Yelena. Dick move.
"You are not dying," she says determinedly. John finds himself nodding along.
"Not dying."
"Not dying." She confirms, even as he feels himself slumping against him. "You hear me Walker? We're getting out of here and you are not dying. And then we can both be pissed about how stupid we are later, okay?"
Walker keeps nodding. He's not sure he understands what she's saying right now, but that's okay. If Yelena said they were getting out, then they were. And he'd be free to jump in front of another bullet for her any other day.