Chapter: 11

The sun was setting on the fourth day that their friends had been missing. There were still no leads to where they could be and as the time passed by they grew more and more anxious. It seemed, to them at least, that even the air around SHIELD had become thicker with anxiety. Of course, that was probably in their own minds.

Steve had spent his time in the gym of the helicarrier. After two agents, Coulson, and Hill had given it a try, Bruce was the one to finally convince him to go and try to get some rest. Steve had tried to argue but, with a promise to alert him the minute something happened, Bruce finally managed to get him to leave. So he sat there in his room for a good couple of hours just staring up at the ceiling. He could honestly say that he had tried and failed to get any real rest. All the stress just didn't allow for sleep to come. He even tried drawing some to get his mind to relax but everything just came out wrong. He was about to just give up and head back to the gym when his phone buzzed with an urgent message. Time to suit up.

Natasha wanted to sleep. That was all she had wanted to do since Kevin had come back and attached some bracelets to both her and Pepper's wrists. Her body hurt from the constant shocks that had gone through her body along with the newest torture Kevin had given her. She had detached her mind from it at the time. She had lost herself in a place she hadn't been to since being in the red room as a child. It was when he had moved away from her and once again left the room that her mind had slowly came back to her present state and after taking stock of herself she just laid there numbly, staring at the ceiling.

Pepper had remained silent after the first twenty minutes or so. At one point she had almost passed out from the shocks given to her because she wouldn't be quiet. After that, and a snapped order from Natasha, she had remained quiet as Kevin continuously hurt the other woman. She cried silently and looked away when Natasha demanded it. When Kevin left again Pepper couldn't help but to look over at Natasha who laid there in nothing but her underwear. Kevin hadn't ripped them because he said he liked the way the black lace looked on her. She seemed even paler than before and her breathing was much more ragged. Her body was covered in bruises and small cuts from where Kevin had been careless with his knife as he had cut her dress away. Pepper worried for her and wanted to say something to comfort the other woman but the door burst open before she could think of anything to say. Kevin came in with a smile and a bottle of water. He walked over and sat down on the edge of the bed.

"Natasha," he brought his hand up and moved some of her hair back that had stuck to her face. "Darling how about some water?" He asked but she didn't respond. "After all that screaming you did you can't honestly tell me that you don't want it." He held the open bottle of water to her lips and she glared at him for that comment. "Oh come on Tasha it's not like we all didn't hear it. Just drink the water." She continued to glare at him.

"Stop," she swallowed as best as she could with her raw throat. "Stop calling me that." It was about the fifth time she had repeated the command. His eyes narrowed in annoyance but he didn't shock her again like Pepper had expected.

"You're going to have to get used to it darling," he replied and forcefully pressed the bottle opening against her lips. She took a few sips but continued to glare at him as she did so. "There you go." He smiled proudly down at her. "That bracelet is teaching you how to behave isn't it?" Not even half a second later she spit some water into his face. He growled at her in response and threw the bottle across the room.

Pepper saw him turn the device on his wrist up before pressing the button. Natasha's body tensed and started to shake as she fought against the scream that threatened to come out. However, Kevin had gotten to where he wouldn't stop unless she screamed for him. Twice she had passed out and he simply turned the device off and waited for her to regain consciousness before turning it up more and starting again. Finally after a few moments she let out a scream and he turned it off. She gasped as she tried to catch her breath. Pepper let out a breath she didn't quite know she had been holding as Natasha's body went limp on the bed again. "I guess you need a bit more training huh?" he said as he pushed some of her hair back again. "That's a good thing because I think I'm ready for some more fun, how about you darling?" She felt his hand sliding back across her skin. It stated at her chest then slid over her stomach and back down to her thigh. She had expected as much. He had promised it before he had left the room that last time. Natasha tried to fight back the nausea that she felt as he climbed back on top of her.

"Stop it!" Pepper screamed at him. "Can't you just leave her alone you disgusting…." She was cut off when a painful shock ripped through her body. She screamed but it just continued until she heard Natasha yell at him to stop. Pepper slumped to the floor and felt a tear fall. She met Natasha's eyes for just a moment. She nodded slightly at the look that Natasha gave her and looked away.

Despite all the attempts that Clint made to talk Tony had remained quiet from the time he was pushed into the small caged in area. He had started gathering different tools and would not meet Clint's eyes. John had left the room once and it was then that Clint had tried to get Tony to talk to him but the genius just remained silent. He did however move faster around the cage and grabbed things he hadn't before. Clint tried and tried to get Tony to say something to him, anything at all, but he just continued to move around and keep quiet. John had returned a bit later and hadn't left since. Clint had given up and settled to just glare at the man that sat in a chair outside of the cage and seemed to watch Tony's every move.

"So," the sound of Tony's voice caused Clint's head to snap towards him. "If you wanted a suit so bad why didn't you just steal one that was already made?" Tony stared at John who just shrugged.

"Too many unknown risks with that." He replied simply. "You have one of the best, if not the best, home security system in the world and I'm sure there are systems installed in your suits to prevent someone like me from using them."

"You telling me that you, a self-proclaimed inventor, wouldn't have been able to figure a way past the security systems?" Tony taunted from where he stood. John's eyes flashed angrily at him.

"I may have removed that bracelet from Mr. Barton but I assure you that I can cause him harm without it." He said then smiled over at Clint. "I heard my brother was getting good use out of it by the way. Out of both of them," he said glancing back at Tony.

"You son of a bitch!" Clint screamed and yanked against his restraints. Tony's jaw tightened but he remained silent as he continued to work.

"What happened?" Steve asked as he made his way to where Fury, Coulson, Bruce, and Agent Hill were standing.

"Just a few minutes ago we found an irregular form of a high frequency sound wave picking up on one of Dr. Banner's radar systems," Fury said.

"It was so small that I almost missed it," Bruce explained.

"You think it's them?" Steve felt his heart beat faster.

"I think that it's too much of a possibility to pass up." Bruce replied and the others nodded their agreement.

"Then what are we waiting for?" Steve said and stepped around them to the waiting jet.