By the time the Avengers—or whatever it was they were supposed to be called now—began nearing their destination, the sun had long-since set, and with the Quinjet in stealth mode, they were nearly undetectable from the ground. Clint was at the controls, his quiver now replenished, and Natasha and Tony were in the back, getting ready to go; they hadn't been able to get ahold of Wanda or Vision, so they were going alone. The Iron Legion was just a few miles behind them, waiting until they were needed. Just like the last time, Clint set the jet down a ways away from the actual building and opened up the back. At the last minute, they'd decided to bring along two ATVs so that he and Natasha could keep up with Tony.
"Alright," Tony said as Clint and Natasha climbed onto their respective four-wheelers. "Keep your eyes peeled. I'll let you know if I see anything."
With this, Iron Man launched himself up into the air, and the two master assassins took off through the thin forest. Before long, they made it to the compound—a stone structure designed to blend into the landscape, standing two stories high and about the length of a football field—and Clint couldn't help but let shock into his expression when he found that the whole place was deserted. There wasn't a soul in sight.
"You sure this is the place, Barton?" Tony asked, looking over at him from where he hovered in the air as Clint got off his ATV. "I expected to be fighting by now."
"This is the place," Clint glared at his teammate.
"If you say so," Tony shrugged. "I'll have the Iron Legion stand watch out here; let's go look around."
Steve looked up when the door to his prison opened once again, and scowled when he saw Doctor Lobo standing in front of him, looking as smug as ever.
"What do you want?" the exhausted soldier demanded, his eyes heavy and his legs numb.
"I have a treat for you, Captain," Lobo grinned. Two guards came in behind him and went over to the prisoner, releasing the chains around his wrists only to securely restrain them behind his back. They pushed him forward, forcing him to walk, and Steve stumbled slightly before he righted himself, his chest heaving as pain shot through him with every movement. Thankfully, most of his wounds were healing nicely, but they were in no way healed completely. "Come with me."
Steve glared at the man before him, reluctantly moving his feet to keep up as the guards pushed him onwards. When he left his cell, he was met by six more guards, all taking up positions around him, but there was no need for quite that much force; trailing behind Doctor Lobo were two young kids—the girl from earlier and a boy a bit younger than her, both dressed in identical outfits—meaning that Steve would not fight back, lest they get hurt in the process.
Steve was led down a series of dimly-lit, slightly damp concrete hallways, until they stopped in front of a metal door that Lobo promptly opened. Inside, there was a large screen taking up at least half of one wall, a couple computers on a glass table off to one side, and, as if just to complicate things more, two more guards and a young girl of no more than ten, wearing the same outfit as the first two. Steve swallowed hard, then allowed the guards holding his arms to push him into a metal chair bolted to the floor and secure him in place. His arms were restrained behind his back by metal cuffs mounted to a thick metal plate, each cuff taking up three quarters of his forearm, not allowing him any leverage and not much range of motion.
"What is this about?" the super soldier demanded. "Why am I here?"
"You'll see," Lobo smirked. One of the guards went over to the computers and tapped a few keys. All at once, the huge screen came to life, and Steve's breath caught in his throat when he saw Clint walking slowly and carefully down a concrete hallway, an arrow knocked and his bow at the ready.
"Oh, no," Steve mumbled to himself.
"It seems your friend just couldn't seem to leave you behind," Lobo observed. "Not a very smart move on his part; he won't find anything. And, of course, there's the fact that that whole building is rigged to blow."
Steve snapped his head to the side, looking at the doctor in horror. "What?" he gasped finally, his face becoming paler than it already was.
"We're not in the building you attacked, Captain," Lobo chuckled. "We never were. If anything, that place was like a warehouse or a halfway point for my supplies and my subjects. They won't find anything useful, and once I'm sure they've gone deep enough inside, I'll blow the place sky high."
"They?" Even more color drained from Steve's face at the mention of the pronoun, hardly daring to breathe.
"Ah, yes," Lobo nodded, waving a hand in the direction of the guard at the computer. The guard hit a few more keys and the large screen in front of the captive split into three, with the feed showing Clint on the bottom and two more up on top in an upside-down pyramid. Steve was sure his heart stopped beating when he saw Natasha and Tony all searching the building.
"Please," Steve gasped. "Please, please, you...you don't have to do this...please, just don't do this...don't kill them; I'm begging you."
"Again, that's very noble of you, Captain," Lobo chuckled. "But unfortunately, your friends pose a significant threat to my plans."
Steve stared at him in horror, his eyes wide and his lips parted, before he turned back to the screen, silently begging his friends to turn and run, praying they'd just give up and go home, while at the same time knowing they wouldn't. It just wasn't in their nature.
Tony moved slowly through the dark hallway, one floor below the surface, searching for any sign of their missing friend, but so far, he'd found nothing. After clearing every single room in the long hall, the billionaire let out a sigh.
"Anybody got anything?" he asked his two companions, who had each taken a different floor.
"Nothing on the main floor," Clint reported.
"And nothing on the top floor," Natasha told him with a sigh.
Tony groaned in frustration, closing his eyes for a moment. Then he shook his head and spoke again, "Alright, guys; let's head out. He's not here."
He turned, about to head back towards the stairs, when he heard a noise behind him in the room he just cleared. Spinning back around, he saw nothing, but he could hear the noise again, like a muffled voice.
"F.R.I.D.A.Y., gimme somethin'," Tony said with a frown, still looking around, trying to find the source of the noise.
"Detecting an air current coming from the floor in the far right corner," F.R.I.D.A.Y. reported, and Tony quickly flew over to the opposite side of the concrete room. He picked up a stack of crates that were resting there, and was met with a metal trap door.
"Guys, get down here," Tony ordered over their secure channel. "I've got something."
In minutes, first Clint and then Natasha came into the room. It only took one look at the trap door for them to understand what was going on, and both quickly readied their weapons once more. Once they were ready, Tony reached down and ripped the trap door off its hinges. There was a ladder descending into a dark abyss, and the three of them exchanged glances before Tony flew down first, followed by Natasha and then Clint. Once they were down the ladder, there was only one place to go: down a short hallway with a metal grated in-floor air vent making up the center of it, at the end of which was a thick metal door. Now that they were down there, all three of them could tell what the sound was; someone was screaming.
"Rogers?" Tony called, taking a few steps closer to the door.
"Guys, I don't like this," Clint spoke up, sounding tense. "Why would they leave him here with no one to guard him? This is screaming 'trap' right now."
"Even if it is a trap, are you really telling me you'd rather leave right now without first checking to see if it's him?" Tony shot back, again drawing nearer to the door.
"Clint's right, Tony," Natasha added with a sigh.
"Rogers, can you hear us?" Tony ignored them both, but still didn't make a move to open the door.
"Come on, guys, please, just go..." Steve muttered under his breath. "That's not me; don't open the door..."
"Oh, it's as you as it can be without the genuine article," Lobo told him with a smirk. "We had the recordings of your screams, but we also had several recordings of your voice; enough to create a program that sounds just like you."
"Please," Steve tried begging again, pulling at his restraints as hard as he could but getting nowhere and only causing himself more pain. "Please, just stop this! Whatever you want from me, you don't have to hurt them!"
"On the contrary," Lobo shook his head, "I do."
"I'll do anything," Captain America could hear the desperation in his own voice as his chest heaved. "Please, I will do anything, just don't kill them."
"You'll do anything anyway," Lobo grinned at him like a snake. They heard Tony ask if Steve could hear him, and the doctor turned to the guard at the computer. "Raymore; start replying to Mr. Stark."
"Rogers!" Tony tried one more time, just looking for a break in the screams, something to tell him that whatever was behind the door wasn't a recording.
"T...Tony!" The voice was muffled and hard to decipher through the thick metal, but there was no denying it; it was Steve. "Tony, is that you?"
Clint and Natasha looked at each other in shock, then rushed forward until they were standing at the door, trying to figure a way in; there was no door handle, and the keypad on the right hand wall had been destroyed.
"It's us, Steve!" Natasha called, then clenched her teeth when she heard him scream again. "We'll have you out in a few; don't worry!"
"Talk to us, Spangles!" Tony yelled to be heard through the door. "What's going on in there?"
"P-Please," they heard Steve gasp, "please, just hurry!"
That was all Tony needed to hear. "Stand back," he ordered his companions. Clint and Natasha quickly shuffled back from him as far as they could, and Tony fired one powerful blast, sending the door flying into the room. Without hesitation, Tony flew into the room, and as soon as he did, he regretted it. Steve, of course, was not there. In his place was easily the largest bomb Tony had ever seen. It had been set off when it sensed motion—i.e. when the door was blasted into the room—and its ten-second delay was down to five.
"Guys, run!" Iron Man ordered, starting to fly back as fast as he could, but he wasn't fast enough; he only made it half way down the thirty-foot hallway before the bomb detonated, and the last thing he remembered before he lost consciousness was seeing Natasha pull Clint into the air vent.
"No!" Steve shouted in horror, again yanking on his restraints, which just made all the guards tense, aiming their guns at him as all the video feeds cut out, dissolving into static. The still-wounded captain stared at the screen in open-mouthed horror, feeling as though he might be sick. He could hardly believe his eyes; he'd just watched his friends die. Crushing helplessness settled in his chest, and he had to remind himself to breathe, fighting off tears.
"I hope you understand now that no one's coming to save you, Captain," Lobo's voice was cold and taunting. "There's no getting out of here. Not until I'm done with you."
Steve didn't answer, hardly able to breathe as he kept staring at the blank screen. Lobo just smirked and nodded at the guards, and before Steve knew it, they were bringing him back to his cell. This time, the chains had been shortened yet again, and he was now forced to stand, whether he wanted to or not. He hardly noticed; his entire body felt numb after what he'd seen. It was like losing Bucky all over again, except now the devastation was magnified threefold. All his thoughts were foggy, like they just couldn't seem to form. What was he supposed to do now? Three of his closest friends, most trusted allies—and yes, he still counted Tony among those, despite everything that happened—were gone.
Finally, Steve let his head hang, closing his eyes and clenching his jaw. There was nothing he could do to save Clint, Natasha, or Tony now. But he damn well could avenge them.
Thank you all very much for the positive feedback! I'll try to keep this story going for you all! Thank you for reading, and don't forget to comment, favorite, and all that jazz.