Chapter Ten:
Steve woke up the next morning with a grin on his face. He nearly whistled as he got ready, making some breakfast and getting dressed. He counted the minutes until ten, getting ready to go pick up his girl. God, his girl. The thought made his smile even wider. He was so glad she had been patient with him. How did he ever get so lucky? At 9:59 he walked out his door, locking it behind him, and he knocked on hers a minute later. He hummed for a bit, waiting for her to open the door.
He frowned when after a minute there was no sound from inside. He tried the knob. It opened. Maybe she was in the shower? The thought made his ears burn. She'd never run late before. She wasn't in the kitchen, or in the living room.
"Clara?" he called out, moving towards the bedroom. He was getting worried now, maybe she had run out on him. Maybe he'd freaked her out by asking her to be his girl. A white sheet of paper on the counter caught his eye. It didn't look like any of the quizzes she'd had the day before. He walked over and looked at it, dread filling his stomach once he saw the words on the page. He nearly passed out as he pulled his phone from his pocket.
"Hey Cap, what's the sitch?" Tony answered.
"HYDRA has Clara." he said flatly.
"I'm sorry could you repeat that? Because what I heard is not possible." Steve could hear the whirring of Tony's suit powering up through the phone.
"I'll be at the tower in ten. Get Nat ready." Steve barked out before hanging up. He grabbed the letter, nearly crumpling it up, but he decided he'd need it to show Stark and Natasha. He hoped Clint was around.
….
"So, what, she was just gone this morning?" Clint asked as he looked over the note.
"I went in her apartment and she wasn't there and the cat wasn't fed. She always feeds Richard right away in the morning, so they must have taken her after she left last night." Steve explained, pacing the board room.
"Yes, the cat Richard was his first priority." Tony commented dryly. Natasha shot him a glare.
"Well, it looks like HYDRA all right." Clint sighed, tossing the paper aside. The paper was mostly blank, except for the symbol on the top right corner and the message in the middle.
"'We have her. Come find us.' could be anybody." Stark replied.
"It's got HYDRA's seal." Natasha pointed out. "If it's not them, then it's someone trying to frame them, which makes this more complicated."
"Should we file a missing person's report?" Steve asked.
"Well, we have to notify at least her family." Clint replied.
"And her boss." Tony frowned.
"I'll call the school, can somebody find her dad's number and let him know?" Steve pulled his phone out and dialed the last number he'd had to call.
"I'll do it." Natasha began typing on the computer, most likely searching for Clara's information. It made Steve uncomfortable to know it was that easy to find these things, but it was in her best interest at the moment. He heard the receptionist from the day before answer the phone.
"Hi, this is Steve from yesterday. I'm calling to let you know that Clara won't be coming in on Monday. Or maybe any day this week." he was thankful that Clara had mentioned the office was open on weekends, so he knew he could get a hold of someone.
"So we're out two third grade teachers?" she sighed.
"What?" Steve was confused. Paul was gone too?
"Yeah, the other teacher told us he had a family emergency and that he would be gone for a few days. Never said when he'd be back." she replied. His blood turned to ice as he realized something was really wrong.
"Thank you." he said quickly before hanging up. He turned towards the others in the room. "This wasn't random, they've been watching her for a few months now."
"What do you mean? How do you know that?" Tony demanded.
"A coworker is gone for a family emergency. Started work there about a week after I met her."
"Very suspicious." Clint sighed. "Definitely something to look into."
"It feels like they're toying with me." Steve sighed.
"They are. It's what they do." Natasha replied flatly.
"What do we do now?" Tony asked.
"We wait for intel. I'm tracking security cameras from Friday night outside your apartment to see if anyone suspicious exited." Natasha pulled up a video stream from the night before, and they watched intently.
"There." Steve pointed. An old car pulled up to the curb, and someone resembling Paul had exited. He held an empty duffel bag and was wearing a baseball cap.
"That the guy?" Natasha zoomed in. "We'll see what time he leaves." she sped forward until he got back to his car, his duffel bag full this time.
"Is she in the bag?" Tony frowned.
"They knocked her out and stuffed her in an unassuming bag." Clint sighed. "It's smart." they watched him drop the bag in the trunk, locking it before starting the car up and driving away.
"He didn't even make a quick getaway, he turned on his blinker and waited for traffic to pass!" Tony sounded exasperated. "He drives like Happy does on a Tuesday afternoon. Where's the excitement!" he complained.
"He's being smart, not attracting any attention." Clint shot him a look. "It's going to be even harder to find her, Nat you got the plates?"
"He must have switched them out in a blind spot, I'm not seeing them on any traffic route around." she muttered, clicking through various traffic cameras. They searched for a bit, waiting for the car to pop up somewhere.
It didn't.
"What are we going to do now?" Steve felt dread pool in his stomach.
"I've got it. JARVIS, put a hit out for a white 2003 impala." Tony spoke to his AI.
"There are eighty-two sightings of a white 2003 Chevy Impala Mr. Stark." JARVIS replied after a minute.
"Confine it to thirty-third street." he specified.
"There are five sightings of a white 2003 Chevy Impala on thirty-third."
"Check the times between 12:30 and 1 in the morning." Natasha asked.
"There is one sighting of a white 2003 Chevy Impala on thirty-third at 12:47am." JARVIS brought up an image of the car with Paul inside.
"Track the route through town please." Clint peered at the screen, and JARVIS brought up a map, an orange line highlighting the streets it took to get to its destination.
"I'll never get used to this." Steve sighed, shaking his head. Was it really that easy?
"The route stops near one of SHIELD's bases, I'll send out a com that we're looking for backup and arriving at nightfall. Tony, please get a quinjet ready." Natasha ordered, pulling out a cell phone and dialing a number.
"Yes Miss Assassin." Tony saluted, pressing his glowing blue circle. Steve stared as he walked, his suit following close behind as he prepared to suit up.
"Should we get Dr. Banner?" Clint asked.
"I think this would be best if we kept it quiet." Steve hefted his shield over his shoulder, attaching it to his back and following the direction Tony went in. "I don't want any chance of her getting caught in the fray."
"You holding up okay?" Natasha asked.
"I'll be fine once we get her back." Steve gritted his teeth, stalking ahead. He just needed her to be okay.
"This is the most exciting Sunday I've had since I saw a priest choke on a cracker." Tony commented, trying to lighten the mood. No one laughed. "Okay, what's the plan then?" he asked as they all got seated in the jet.
"Clint goes in first to scope it out. Once he gives us the signal, we storm and head out whoever is in there. Steve goes after Clara, and Tony you fly her out. Hopefully we can take down whoever's in charge of the kidnapping and get them into custody." Natasha spoke, a no-nonsense tone taking over her demeanor.
"What if they aren't there?" Steve felt his stomach drop at Tony's question.
"Then we keep looking. She's a civilian. Just bait. They want Captain America to come swooping in so that they can take him out." Clint added.
"You're their biggest threat right now." Natasha sighed.
"We'll get her, Capsicle." Tony patted his arm. Surprisingly, Steve didn't mind the comfort Tony provided in that moment. It seemed that Stark wasn't a complete joke.
…..
Clara groaned, her head ached as she woke. She squeezed her eyes shut at the pounding headache she had. She tried reaching up to press against the spot that hurt the most, but her hand wouldn't move. She tried again, and she felt resistance against her wrist. Her eyes shot open. What was going on? She was in a dark room, not her bedroom. She was leaning against a wall, and it felt like cement. The ground under her was cement too. She tried to call out, but her mouth was taped shut.
That was when she really started to panic. She began thrashing against her bindings, but both her feet and hands were taped together. A whimper escaped through her nose, and she felt a scream building in her throat. But she couldn't freak out, she had to calm down and figure out what the hell was happening. Her eyes burned with tears, and her breaths came out sharp and fast. She heard something, and her eyes darted around, finally spotting a door in the dim light. Someone was speaking outside of it, but she couldn't quite make out the words over the sound of her own heartbeat.
There was a click as the door unlocked, and it slowly opened, light coming into the room as a sharp beam. Her eyes stung at the white pain, she probably had a concussion from how her head was throbbing. She looked down at her knees, squeezing her eyes shut again as a light turned on in the room.
"She's awake." someone announced, and she heard a pair of loud footsteps her eyelids shot open wide as she pressed herself further against the wall. She stared up into the face of a stranger, and dread set in. What on earth was going on?
"I'm sure you have questions." the stranger sneered down at her. "You're the bait, if you will." her mind whirred. Bait? Bait for-Steve. Bile rose in her throat as she realized. They were using her to get to him. But why? Who were these people?
"Aubergine to Brown." a voice crackled over some sort of walkie talkie. The stranger sighed, pulling it off his hip and up to his lips.
"Yes?" he rolled his eyes as he replied.
"We've got eyes on the Captain. He's approaching the warehouse in New York, they've tracked the mole." the person on the line revealed.
"Do not approach. Once he finds we aren't there, we only have a limited time to set up the cryo chamber for transport."
"Understood." Clara's mind whirred. They were trying to freeze Steve again? But why? It didn't make any sense. Where were they going to take him?
"Mole." the stranger barked. Another figure came forward, and Clara nearly gasped. It was Paul. She felt like she was going to be sick. He was one of them?
"Yes Brown." he grimaced down at Clara.
"Keep an eye on her. I'm going to go prep the chamber. Zola's Winter Soldier program will be complete once we get Rogers under the influence." Brown ordered, stalking out of the room. "Oh, and if she causes any trouble, sedate her. We don't need any distractions."
"Of course." Paul sneered. "Anything for the mission." the door slammed shut behind Brown, and the room was silent once more. Paul stared at her with his arms crossed, not moving. She couldn't tell if he'd even blinked. She sniffled, and it surprised her when she realized she had been crying. He sighed, rolling his eyes at her. "Would you calm down? You're fine, honestly." he said boredly. She shook her head frantically, and the tears came even faster. Muffled sobs heaved from her chest, the tape over her lips pulling harshly. Her bare legs were dirty, and she pulled them closer to her body, her toes scraping across the rough floor. She shivered, and he sighed again, crossing the room to pick up a blanket off of a desk. He threw it over her, covering the majority of her lower half. At least they didn't want her to freeze to death.
"Aubergine to Mole." the same voice from before came from the walkie at Paul's hip.
"What is it?" he droned.
"We have eyes on a small team of the Avengers. They've realized she's not there, but they're splitting up to follow the separate trails. Brown requested the hostage be moved to ground level."
"Will do." he huffed, leaning down to grab her arm. "You know, infiltrating the school was almost too easy. But having to be in charge of those little fucks all day was annoying. I don't understand how you like that bullshit. I hope you die in the crossfire you maniac." he huffed, dragging her towards the door. "Nighty night, Clara." he grinned, and she felt pain in the side of her neck before her vision went spotty. She felt herself cry out again before everything went black once more.
This whole conflict is obviously my own setup, none of this happens in the MCU, but I wanted to make some more connections without just throwing the OC in the thick of every fight.