Disclaimer: I do not own the Avengers, its content, or any of its characters. I am not making money off this story, its content, or any of its chapters, nor do I intend to.

A/N: Sorry it took so long! Forewarning; it get's a little bit nasty toward the end of this one. Proceed with caution!

Chapter 10: Far from Defenseless

As she woke with a horrendous headache, Bryn's first thought was about roughly how many times she had been injured working for Tony thus far, which had exceeded that of any other job she had worked at, whether or not the pay was worth the hassle, and exactly how decent her health insurance must have been to cover all of this nonsense. Perhaps it was time for a change or career, if only for her own physical well-being.

Blinking in an attempt to clear her vision, she quickly realized how dark the surrounding area was. More alarming than the state of darkness of the room was the fact that she couldn't move; her arms and legs were bound to the hard seat below her. After a bit of thrashing around, it was very clear she wasn't breaking out of her binds.

Trying her best not to show how frightened she was, Bryn took a deep breath and sat perfectly still, waiting to see what would come next, and wondering how she was going to get herself out of this predicament.

"She's not returning any of my phone calls." Steve was pacing the length of Tony's lounge in front of his office.

"She probably doesn't have her phone, Cap. They tend to take them away when you're kidnapped." Stark bit back.

Bryn not showing up to work was an unusual occurrence in itself; she never missed a scheduled day thus far. The alarming situation came to light, however, when former S.H.I.E.L.D Agent Stella Krauss was found beaten and restrained in the apartment downstairs by her girlfriend. She explained a man had walked into the downstairs apartment that night, refused to identify himself, and headed upstairs. Stella unholstered her sidearm and gave him a warning, only to be hit in the back of the head by a man she hadn't seen enter the building.

"I had no idea Stella was a former agent." Steve muttered.

"Former being the key word." Stark replied. "Being hard of hearing and up there in age, she decided to retire awhile ago. She didn't even hear the second man break into the building."

"Did they find anything else?" The Captain was frustrated, trying to piece together what he knew, but a lot of things didn't add up.

"No. Just a mess of Bryn's apartment. The few drops of blood that were actually found were hers."

Upon hearing that she had been wounded during the attack, Steve Rogers felt every bit as cold as he did upon first waking up in the 21st century and every bit as angry as when Loki had attacked his precious home. He had few close friends, and she was one of them. The idea that someone had once again gone after someone he cared about made him feel physically ill.

Bryn stared defiantly at the woman across from her; a statuesque smiling redhead with bright blue eyes. The lights in the room had been flipped on, blinding Bryn briefly, and this woman was the first person she had set eyes upon when her vision finally cleared.

With heels, the red haired woman was 6'1 or so. Her smile seemed serene at first glance, but held a satisfied edge as she gazed out at her prisoner. She was older than Bryn; possibly in her mid to late thirties, having the telltale signs of aging beyond that point. Her eyes held a strange look to them, almost as if she were deranged or suffering some sort of mental instability. Her fascination with Bryn did not go unnoticed and the woman held captive nearly shuddered when the taller female grinned at her.

"So, tell me, how is it you've become so close to Steve Rogers?" Her voice was soft and almost musical, but lacked any sort of empathy.

"He's a friend. And just a friend." Bryn growled. "We're not particularly close."

"Well, that's too bad." The woman smiled again. "I almost forgot to introduce myself. How rude of me! My name is Eva Voss. And I'll be your host for now."

Bryn noticed finally the clothing Eva was wearing as she took a few steps closer. Her dress was a plain, form fitting light blue ending at her knees. The woman's outfit didn't bother her at all. The small, gold necklace with an artistic trinket in the form of a swastika, however, did. It wasn't a symbol commonly used anymore, for obvious reasons. Though fearful, she was curious, and decided to pry a bit.

"Why wear such a thing?"

"I beg your pardon?" Eva questioned, her eyes narrowing.

"That swastika. It's not commonly worn nowadays. Lots of hate behind that symbol. People don't take too kindly to it, y'know."

Eva laughed and the madness of it made Bryn shudder once more.

"The swastika is a symbol that has been used for over 3000 years, my dear. That predates the Ankh, even! The word "swastika" comes from the Sanskrit svastika - "su" meaning "good," "asti" meaning "to be," and "ka" as a suffix. It's hardly a negative thing."

"But that doesn't answer my question. I didn't ask for the symbol's history." Bryn growled. "Why are you wearing it? What makes it so special to you?"

"We know that the government here no longer protects our white race or our blood purity. When you think about it, not a single law has been enacted for the preservation of the white race since the end of World War Two, but plenty have been enacted against it. Minorities receive favorable treatment, while the white are denied such things. Many of us live in squalor and fear while these groups of mixed, imperfect people run rampant through a country that was once ours. And to see the resurrected Captain America protecting such corruption makes our stomach turn." Eva was getting louder, clearly passionate about her cause. "The destruction of their poster child for their own sick agenda will even the battlefield, and perhaps we can begin to take back the land that was once ours."

"Well, that's fucking enlightening. I've been kidnapped by a bunch of crazy Neo-Nazis." Bryn shook her head. "It's a damn shame that a pretty woman like you has been corrupted like this by a bunch of psychopaths. If you honestly believe that there's any room for that kind of hate and prejudice in a modern world, you are wrong. And the Captain? Protected everyone during the invasion of New York. Saved thousands of lives. Even people like you should be grateful he came out of that ice. Without him, you'd be fucking dead, you ungrateful crackpot bigot!"

Eva had already walked out of the room.

"Go ahead! Run away from the truth! You'll never win! Not while I'm still breathing, you fucking flake!"

Tony knew what kind of prisoner Bryn would be; an uncooperative one. It was clearly in her personality to be confrontational when threatened, and that would make things much more difficult for her and everyone else involved. They had nothing to go on, and time was slipping away from them. Stark feared something like this. Every time someone got close to him or his company, something awful happened. The Avengers could protect themselves; an average woman could not. He found himself thinking of Pepper, and thought perhaps she was better off now. Away from him. Away from Stark Industries. Away from everything that could hurt her.

"Stark…"

"What, Cap?"

"If this were about you, wouldn't someone have gone after Pepper? Or someone close to you? Think about it." He began.

"Bryn is my assistant. She is close to me, on a regular basis. She has access to myself and my company, along with free reign to this Tower."

"On a limited level. She's your mechanic, sort of. And that's not well publicized at all. Who has she been seen with most?"

Tony met his eyes, gears turning in that brilliant mind of his.

"You. You two go out all the time. I remember seeing a few tabloids stating she was your girlfriend after you went shopping together. Which is disturbing, by the way."

"This might not even be about you, Tony." Steve continued. "But Hydra is gone. Who would think to…"

"Let me stop you right there. Hydra may have been disbanded and weeded out, but don't think for a second that this world doesn't have a few anti-semitic nutbags running around causing trouble. Any criminal group with a nasty agenda could have taken her from that apartment. She shouldn't have even been staying there after coming to work here."

"Why was she staying there? I thought you invited her to stay closer to the tower."

"I invited her to stay in the Tower. But she refused. And I haven't the slightest clue as to why."

Steve Rogers, the star spangled man with the plan, contacted the Black Widow. He was about to ask her to search for any anti-semitic groups in the area, but she had already done so. There were 12 properties in New York City alone that belonged to people associated with the Aryan Nation in some way. The one that stood out the most was a 55,000 square foot warehouse that had been vacant for quite some time, until last week when a few people had started milling around the property again. To many in the area, it simply looked like they were cleaning and renovating the building for future use. It was too close to Bryn's apartment for Steve's comfort. The owner was listed as Eva Voss, a kind looking woman in her 30's that didn't seem at all confrontational or suspicious. Natasha, however, had her doubts about the woman's character.

"Her record isn't as squeaky clean as it should be, and she's been hospitalized a few times because of it." Widow said over the phone. "I'm going to check into it. You're welcome to assist me. Hawkeye's busy with something at the moment."

"I'll see you in a few minutes, then."

The classical music in the building was disturbing. She wasn't sure exactly where it was playing from, but Bryn no longer held a fondness for Erik Satie's music and certainly wouldn't be working to it anytime soon. Her thoughts went back to the Tower; would they even notice her absence, or just maybe assume she was sick? There was no way she could get in contact with Tony or Steve. Her phone was gone and she was completely restrained. Whomever her captors were, they were smart enough to put her on a slab instead of in a chair. A chair could be moved; this slab was going nowhere.

The only sound Bryn could hear was the music. She was fairly certain it was Vexations, but she didn't really have the patience to outright identify the song. Pulling at her binds again, she gritted her teeth and let out a hiss. It infuriated her to no end that they were using her to get to the Captain. Hadn't the poor man suffered enough? Honestly, hadn't life thrown enough shit at her already?

Hearing the door open, she shifted her attention to the person walking in and was surprised to see a little, blond haired girl looking at her curiously. Bryn tilted her head to the side as the girl began to study her.

"Hello, little one." Bryn rasped, her voice a bit rough from being deprived of water for hours.

The girl just stared back.

"What's your name?" She tried again.

"Mom told me not to talk to you." The little girl shyly said. "But I wanted to see who was in here. I ran out of pages in my coloring book…Mom's talking to someone on the phone. Her voice sounds wierd."

"I see...Is Eva your mother?"

"Yes."

"Well, dear, I don't think you should be in here. It isn't quite safe."

"Why?"

"Because there's some stuff going on that little girls shouldn't be involved in." Bryn sighed. She sincerely hoped the child just left and wouldn't be punished for running off. She didn't want to think of any of these psychos being near children. Eva, while seemingly calm, didn't seem necessarily stable.

"My name is Willow. What's yours?"

Clearly, the child was going to ignore her advice. As all children did. Bryn was never very good with them.

"It's Bryn."

"That's a nice name."

"Thanks. So's yours. You should probably go now, though. I don't want you to get in trouble."

Willow smiled and was about to walk out the door when Eva strolled in.

"Willow, what are you doing down here? I told you to stay put." Eva glared down at her daughter. The kid shrunk down a bit.

"I was bored. And I ran out of pages to color." She meekly replied.

"I'll get you some more, then. Go back to your table."

Willow ran off to whatever room she was previously in, leaving the two adults alone.

"This is no place for a child, Eva. She could get hurt here. What you're doing is your business, and there's no reason to bring her this close to danger." Bryn looked her captor in the eye.

"She needs to grow accustomed to this. It's likely she'll be seeing it more often in the next few years, after America's precious Captain is gone." Eva smiled in a particularly nasty manner. "She's my daughter, after all. Should anything happen to me, someone has to continue our great work. Her father is...in the middle of something at the moment, and not around to help."

Eva bent down closer to Bryn, her face level with the dark haired woman's.

"Besides, you don't look like you're in much of a position to hurt anyone."

Without warning, Bryn lurched forward and bit the side of Eva's face, clamping down with as much force as she could. The other woman clawed at the side of her face, screaming to be let go and struggling. Upon being released, her frame collapsed onto the ground and she clutched the side of her head, howling in pain. Bryn spat the blood from her mouth and felt as if she were going to vomit. Instead, she leveled a glare at the woman writhing on the floor, who had stopped to stare up at her hostage in shock.

"I wouldn't bet on that." Bryn snarled.

Eva, horrified, pulled herself to her feet and ran from the room.

After she was gone, Bryn folded her head to her chest, copper-like aftertaste still in her mouth, and closed her eyes. If they thought she was going down without a fight, they were sorely mistaken.