Darcy hadn't realized she had even passed out until she was being forcefully brought back to consciousness. Cold water engulfed her, covering her face and soaking her hair and most of her shirt. She coughed, sputtering out the water that slipped into her mouth. She gasped as she was quickly pulled from her position on the floor, still tied to the chair, into an upright position. She blinked a few times, trying to regain focus, glaring when she noticed someone she hadn't yet seen before in front of her.
"Who the hell are you?" She forced out, her voice still strained from all her coughing. Not to mention she was also feeling lightheaded and nauseous from the knife wound in her thigh. She looked down at her leg and saw the wound was wrapped in gauze. "Did you do this?" She asked.
She followed his gaze when he gestured behind her. She turned to see the younger guy from before, Rick, standing against the far wall. She turned back around to the new guy. It was then she noticed he had the same green eyes as Tom. Though whereas Tom was taller with dark hair, this man was slightly shorter with blonde hair. "Are you that guys brother or something?" She asked.
He didn't say anything, instead, he started walking towards her. She tensed, uselessly trying to push herself as far away as she could, though it did nothing.
"Relax. I'm going to untie you." He stated.
"Untie me? Why are you going to untie me? What are you going to do to me?" She asked nervously. It was then that she noticed that while he was in a long sleeved shirt, the part of his hand the was visible was covered in a white cast.
Clint breaking one of her captors arms right after being injected with something flashed in her mind and she gasped horrified. "You're one of the assholes that attacked Clint! Get away from me!" She cried out glaring at the man.
"Ms. Lewis, my name is Justin. I'm not going to hurt you. Not as long as you cooperate. Now, I can untie you or you can stay like that. Which is it going to be?" He questioned. She looked away, the chance at being untied was tempting no matter how wary she was of their plans. He took her silence as confirmation and started to remove the rope from her wrists. Rick had moved to her side, incase she tried anything, she assumed.
As soon as she was free, she jumped up from the chair and hastily pressed herself against the opposite wall. Eyes widened as she anticipated whatever they were going to do to her next. She jumped as the door opened.
"Boss wants to see you." The guy told Justin who rolled his eyes in response.
"Watch her." He told Rick before turning and following the other man out of the room. Darcy sank down to the floor, not being able to stand any longer due to the pain in her leg. She brought her hands to her wrists to ease the tension and rawness from them, watching Rick with wary eyes. She wasn't sure what he was capable of. Only that he was one of the ones to tie her down and that he bandaged her leg.
She sat against the cold floor, her back to the wall, shivering from the cold concrete against her damp shirt. Her face and arms, still slightly wet, managed to attract any ounce of coolness in the room. She went to bring her knees closer to her chest to try and ease off the cold but winced as her leg protested. Settling on keeping her left leg outstretched, she hugged her right knee to chest. Wrapping her arms around it, she closed her eyes trying to calm her nerves. Her current situation, however, did not make it easy for 'calm' to be any part of her emotions.
What she wouldn't give to be back at the tower fetching Tony anything he asked for no matter how impolite he asked. She would take his and Clint's teasing non-stop over being kept in this hell hole of a situation any day. She wished for Thor's hammer so she could bust her way out of here and be free. Then again she wouldn't even be able to lift Mjolnir so that may not be the best idea. She'd need something she could at least budge, like Steve's shield. Her heart dropped in her chest at the thought.
A flash of Steve smiling at her this morning flashed in her head as her eyes stung, reminding her she might never even see him or any of the others again. There was no reason to believe Tom would let her live to see the end of this. He lost his family, after all, so what would keep him from letting her live. As long as he got his money he was set. Or if he managed to destroy the Avengers. Tears streamed down her eyes at the thought. She had no doubt the Avengers could take him and his minions, but there was still a possibility. And as much as she wanted out of being held captive, she suddenly hoped that they stayed away. That Tony, and Steve, Clint, and Thor and Natasha, and Bruce just forgot about her and didn't try to give this man what he wanted. She didn't know how she'd manage if any of them got hurt. If they got hurt because of her. She had to find a way out of here.
She wiped the tears from her face as she racked her brain for a plan. She knew there had to be at least six of them she had to deal with, unless she could miraculously get by without any of them noticing. There were four guys who had attacked her and Clint on the street and one driving the car. She assumed Tom hadn't been there at all since he yelled at them for taking her instead of Pepper. Then again, there could be a whole slew of people out there and she wouldn't know it.
Darcy sighed leaning her head back against the wall. None of this was ever going to work. She wasn't an Avenger, or even a SHIELD agent. She was just a lab assistant whose only method of fighting was to tase people.
With that thought, her eyes widened. How could she have forgotten? There was a taser in her boot this whole time. Not only would it work to take down who she needed, granted she could get close enough, but it would alert JARVIS of her location. Glancing towards Rick she saw he was too preoccupied having pulled out his cell phone and was too entranced in that to have noticed her epiphany. An idea popped into her head and later she'd realize how stupid it was, but through fear and desperation she decided to try it anyway.
"So," She started, "you look a little young to be in the kidnapping business." It was a weak attempt to grab his attention, but she couldn't help but be curious as well.
"Be quiet." Was all he said and she inwardly cursed before trying a different approach.
"Okay, okay. Do you think you could help me up though? My leg…" She gestured to her bandaged thigh, hoping since he bandaged it he might have a little compassion. Rick sighed, glancing over at the open door to the vacant hallway before pocketing his phone and walking over towards Darcy.
'Victory.' She thought to herself. Right before he pushed himself off the opposite wall she subtly slid her hand in her right boot, grasping the taser in her hand and positioning her finger over the button. She sat with a baited breath hoping he wouldn't notice. Hoping this would work.
When he reached a hand out she grabbed it with her left pulling herself up and keeping her weight on her right leg as she pulled the taser out, hiding it out of sight. Once she was fully standing she took a deep breath before thrusting the taser up to his neck and hitting the button. Her heart felt like it stopped as she watched him jerk before hitting the floor with a thud. She only briefly felt bad for the guy, now passed out on the floor, before she took off towards the door. Not used to the limitations of her leg, she stumbled, dropping the taser to the floor as it skittered out of her way. She made to go for it, but when she heard the sounds of approaching voices she knew she had no time. With a curse, she pushed herself forward putting as much weight on her leg as she could in order to move quicker.
When she reached the hallway she was relieved to find no one on watch, but now she had to figure out which way to go. She was barely conscious right before they had brought her into the room so nothing looked familiar. She had no idea which way was out. The sound of a door closing down one of the hallways had her taking off down the opposite way. She ran, clenching her jaw as her leg jarred in pain with each movement. She reached an open stairway and as she looked around she noticed the giant open room. The random metal shelves and giant machinery covered in dust. She only just realized she was in a warehouse before the urge to get out of there hit her again.
She limped down the stairs, only getting halfway down before she heard angry shouts echoing through the halls she had just came from. Knowing she was running out of time, and didn't even know where the exit was, she forced her way down the stairs, biting back the pain through each step. She had just reached the bottom when a voice rang out.
"Oh Darcy," The voice she recognized as Tom's sang out, "You can't hide from us. Your best bet is to just come out before we find you." She darted behind a shelving unit shoved away in the corner behind the stairs that was filled with hunks of metal and plastic that she didn't care to examine. She held her breath, trying to make herself as small as possible as footsteps ran down the stairs.
Through the small open spaces on the shelves she could make out Tom along with Justin and another guy she didn't recognize scanning the room.
"Not like she could have gotten far." The man she hadn't seen before said as he continued looking around.
"Yeah, well keep looking. The door out of here is locked so she's still in here." He said before raising his voice, "You hear that Lewis? You're trapped in here!" She knew it wasn't likely that she'd be able to get out, but she still had hoped. Having it confirmed had her eyes welling with tears as she brought her hand to her mouth to stave off the sobs that were threatening to break through.
She didn't know why she had even attempted to run. Maybe if she was more like Nat, she wouldn't be in this mess. Or she'd at least know how to get out without a problem. But she wasn't like that. She was just an assistant with a poli-sci degree. She didn't know how to fight or how to make calculated decisions to get herself out of trouble. Hence the taser. If she ever made it out of here she was going to make sure she learned how to handle situations like this. If. She shuddered. She didn't want to even think of the possibility of not getting out alive.
She jumped when she heard a clang of metal hitting the floor. Nausea and dread filled her immediately when she looked down to see a bucket had fallen off the shelf and clattered to the floor in front of her. Darcy had no time to even find a different place to hide as someone came up behind her, dragging her out into the open.
"No!" She cried out, "No, please! Just let me go!" She screamed and kicked. Tears flooded her vision as fear constricted itself around every part of her until she felt like she couldn't breathe. "Please." She reiterated with a desperate plea. He ignored her, continuing to drag her backwards until they stopped, he let her go roughly and she fell to the floor, her arms coming out to brace her fall. She looked up when a pair of shoes entered her vision. Tom was crouched in front of her, fixing her with a menacing look. She jumped back into a sitting position, as far away from him as she could get without actually getting anywhere. Her injured leg was tucked under her, the position stretching the hole in her thigh but she was too fear-stricken to make any more movements with the three men surrounding her as they were.
"I don't think you understand your current situation here, Darcy." He brought his hand forward and she flinched, jerking back when he went to brush the hair from her face.
"Don't touch me." She said, a lot less confident than she would have hoped. He laughed in response before rising to stand. He nodded to the guy who had dragged her out and then a hand was wrapped around her arm, roughly pulling her from the floor. She spared a glance at Justin, surprised to see him looking slightly uncomfortable. She stared at him, though she wasn't sure why. Maybe to elicit a response from him, to get a better read on him. Part of her hoping if she knew who the weak ones were it would help her if she found another way out. She got her answer when he looked away.
"I'm going to go check on Rick." Justin said before turning to make his way back up the stairs.
"Let's go." Tom said to the man with the vice grip on her arm. They followed Tom through the room and around another hallway. When they reached a door, Tom entered and Darcy was forced into a chair which sat across from a desk as the guy who had been man-handling her closed the door, shutting the three of them inside. She gasped as she looked to the wall behind the desk. Pictures of not only Tony, but Clint, Nat, Steve, Thor and Bruce as well were hung on the wall, Post-It notes surrounding each of their pictures with a mass of information she couldn't even make out. Tom took notice and sat down behind the desk.
"Like it? Took me some time to put it together. I had to make sure I knew how they reacted to things, you know? How they fought and all that good stuff." He said casually as if it wasn't the creepiest thing in the world.
"Clint…" The fact that Clint hadn't been able to take them all out as he usually would have flashed in her mind.
"Ah, yes. Mr Barton. He was a little tricky, but luckily my men know how to do their homework. Surveillance on him wasn't easy, I've got to say. But once we had it… His skills are quite impressive. His fighting tactics were very interesting to learn." Her eyes widened at his revelation and she then realized just how much planning could have gone into this. Having well over a year to study each member of the Avengers- to put a plan together such as this one. She would have been impressed had it not included a hostage, especially herself. That, and the fact that he clearly couldn't even capture the right woman. She wondered if he was so intent on trying to kill Tony and/or the others, that he overlooked just how good they were at what they do. Thor was a god, for crying out loud.
She glanced back at the pictures on the wall subconsciously trying to burn the images into her head, for it may be the last image of them she would ever see again. She wasn't sure what the overall plan was, but either way, she couldn't help but fear the worst.
"Listen, I know what you're probably thinking, but I'm not a bad guy." She scoffed.
"Could have fooled me." She bit her tongue as soon as the words left her mouth. Bracing herself for the man to snap. Instead, he laughed and she was taken aback.
"I don't expect you-" He stopped talking as the door swung open. They both turned sharply towards the door at the movement to see Justin looking nervous. Behind him stood the first man who had tied her to the chair in the other room, holding up Rick who looked worse for wear. She didn't feel bad for him, however. Fuck him, and everyone else.
"There was a tracking device in the taser." Justin said hastily holding up a small chip in between his fingers that was flashing red. In his other hand he held pieces of the now disassembled taser. Darcy bit her lip, averting her eyes as she could feel Tom's eyes on her.
"Why," He said, rising from his chair and walking towards Justin, "have you not destroyed it yet?" He ripped the device from the others hand and dropping it to the floor before crushing it under his foot. Without waiting for an answer from Justin, he turned towards Darcy, grabbing the chair she sat at and turning it roughly to face him. She flinched, wishing desperately to not be in such a close vicinity of the man. "You knew there was a GPS signal in there, didn't you? How long until they're notified?" He said lowly, glaring into her eyes even as she tried to avoid any eye contact.
"Answer me!" He shouted grabbing a handful of her hair and practically threw her to the floor.
"I don't know." She answered fearfully in a heap at his feet. Clearly that wasn't an acceptable answer because before she could even blink, he drove his foot into her ribs quick and hard. She cried out, clutching her arms around herself in a weak attempt to ease the blinding pain shooting through her.
"It's your taser. It's got Stark's label on it, and you're going to try and tell me you don't know anything about it?" He seethed rearing his foot back once more and connecting it to the same spot where she was sure her ribs were broken. Once more and his foot hit her arm and she saw white.
"Wait, wait! Stop! Please, I don't-" she choked back a sob, "I knew it was in there, but not how it works. Only th-that it would go off when the taser was activated. I don't even know how he's notified." She lied gasping in pain as he kicked her again. Lying certainly didn't have the best results, but she'd be damned if she told him everything that could potentially help her in the long run. "I swear, I don't- I'm sorry-" He stopped, reaching down to grab her in a vice grip by her arm in attempt to pull her up and she cried out.
"Billy! Don't you think that's enough?" Justin spoke from his position still in the doorway. If the white noise wasn't blaring through her ears, she would have questioned it when Tom dropped her arm, letting her fall back to the floor, at the name. Instead she laid there, arms wrapped around herself. She would have curled up in a ball if she could have, but the pain coursing through her was unbearable and just the thought of moving brought more tears to her already tear-filled eyes.
"Looks like we're going to have to skip a few steps in our plan." With that he walked out of the room. Darcy wasn't sure if the others had followed or not. The sounds of footsteps would have been lost in the sounds of her cries either way. Seconds felt like hours, and minutes felt like days as the bruising and crack in her ribs only seemed to get worse. She was no expert, she wasn't even sure if they were in fact broken other than the sheer amount of pain she was experiencing. But she could only hope that she wasn't going to bleed out internally.
She barely had it in her to react when two pairs of hands appeared out of nowhere and pulled her up into a standing position. The only reason she was able to even stay upright was because whoever was holding her up was supporting her weight. Her head hung forward and it took whatever remaining energy she had to lift her head and see what was happening.
Confusion filled her as Tom- or Billy, started to put something black and heavy around her, maneuvering her arms through openings on either sides. She jerked back trying to deter his attempts. "Wh-what are you doing?" She asked weakly, but the trepidation in her voice was evident. "Stop," She tried struggling out of the hold they had on her. "What is this?" She asked nervously.
"If you don't calm down, you're going to find out the hard way." 'Billy' said as he started tightening the fastenings around her. She tried to focus to see what it was but when she did she stilled, wishing she hadn't. He had placed a vest on her, tightening the straps against her battered torso, but that wasn't the problem. More wires than she could even comprehend were woven around the front, attached to various blocks that she could only assume were explosives. She turned frightful eyes towards the man in front of her.
"Don't worry. As long as you do everything you're told you'll be fine." He said as if strapping a bomb to someone was an everyday occurrence. "Now, as you can see there's a bomb on this vest. Ta da! I would suggest to not even think of removing it because there's a trigger and it will detonate if you try and take it off. It's also remote activated. I didn't want to have to deal with an annoying countdown. Plus there's just something empowering about having that kind of decision at the palm of your hands." She wanted to vomit with how at ease he was talking about this. How calm he was with that sick look of pride in his eyes.
"Why are you doing this?" She asked through clenched teeth, afraid to even make the smallest movement.
"Well I've told you that already. Have you not been listening?" He made a gesture towards the two other guys in the room who then turned to leave the room as he leaned against the desk. "I want Stark and his happy little brigade to realize their actions have consequences. Now, whether that is making them suffer the loss of a friend, or whatever you are to them, at their own doing- or simply putting them in the ground is fine with me. Personally, I'd like nothing more than to watch Tony Stark suffer the guilt of losing someone close. Granted, you aren't Pepper Potts, but you must mean something since you're living in the same building as him." She didn't know how he knew that and the surprise must have shown on her face.
"Don't doubt me." He continued and she was almost too frightened to question him on it. "As a bonus, wouldn't it be something to be able to say you took down Captain America?" Her heart clenched at his words, but she did everything she could not to convey it. "I never got the hype about him. Should have stayed dead, don't you think?" She couldn't help the glare that betrayed her. His words effecting her more than she would have liked.
"Do I really need to have a bomb strapped to me for this?" She questioned apprehensively.
"Well, I suppose not. But I must say, it's awfully efficient. Not only will it keep you in line, but if those damn Avengers try anything, it'll certainly make them think twice. Unless, of course, you're a lot more expendable than I thought." He gave her a scrutinizing glance. "Guess we'll just have to find out."
A short rapping against the door had him standing up putting a hand against her upper back. She flinched, not only in fear and disgust of the man, but also because she didn't know anything about bombs other than the whole Boom and fire and death aspect. She didn't know what it would take to set it off and she didn't want to find out. He opened the door, leading her out. "It's not quite how I wanted to meet them, but it will have to make due. I hope you're ready to say goodbye to your friends." He said as he led them back into the main room.
