Chapter Twenty-One: Behind Closed Doors

It took me a bit to figure out what the hell I wanted to happen next, naming these chapters is the struggle guys, always gotta make sure it plays along with the actually information within. Anyways, as you already know, we've gotta be getting pretty close to the end, I mean chapter twenty-one? There'll be at least in thirty but I'm not sure up to what number. All I know for sure is that I know how this story is gonna end and what's in store for the next. Now that that's out of the way, be sure to favorite this story, and comments never hurt!

The mood of everyone in the power has been pulled from the room like a doctor with a needle drawing blood from a typical school functioned Blood Drive. Pepper went to their bedroom to try to sleep while he, Steve, and Nat included set out to try to find Toby or anyone associated with HYDRA, or the Emersyn who I presume was the Woman in the Black Veil.

However, that didn't stop him from warning me about doing anything alone with Oliver and that JARVIS would tell him anything that happens between us while we're here, nearly alone. Rolling my eyes, I lead Oliver to my room and motion for him to sit down on my bed, ignoring how his eyes scan over the dark purple walls and all the odd items pinned to my walls.

Flipping open my laptop lid, I immediately begin hacking into the system from Dr. Quin's computer to gain access to the files he had. While I was looking through the information of Emersyn Pierce, I noticed that they had a few files under lock and key and I want to know why and what those files contain. Probably an overview on the procedure and what work she had done.

"Panic, what are we currently sure of when it comes to Obadiah Stane and this HYDRA organization crisis?" Raven's voice sounds, emotionless as always.

I jump in my chair, spinning around to face her. A smile overtakes my face as I shoot forward, pulling her into a tight hug before she slowly pries my arms away. "Okay, so I found out the Emersyn Pierce, the daughter of Alexander Pierce, the former leader of HYDRA, went through some kind of plastic surgery and that she must have taken baby Toby."

"Where's Sierra?" Oliver asks, speaking for the first time since we arrived at this tower.

Rae glances over at him, her emerald eyes practically glowing. "I returned her to your home after she passes out when the power in the gymnasium went out. If you would like, I could go retrieve her, bring her here."

He glances between the two of us, then shakes his head. "No. It's probably better for her to be as far from this as possible."

Oliver rises and takes his place to my left while Sierra looks over my right shoulder at the computer screen in front of me as I'm busy hacking through the never ending firewalls. Finally I crack into the final one that bounces around like a ping-pong ball, but the moment I do, we've just gained access to all the files, even those Dr. Quin kept locked up.

An in depth analysis of Emersyn mental status and personality describe her as a cold, distant woman and that while he doesn't know if the procedure would be the best thing for her mental heath, he doesn't believe it should do too much harm so long as she can remember who she is after all the work has been completed. It also says that she didn't have a close relationship with her father who was never really around and that she only saw once a month, for about ten minutes.

She was also shipped off to boarding schools all across the world, far enough away so that he couldn't always visit her on a whim and that while growing up her father rarely showed her any sort of affection. HYDRA probably considers those things are giving way to weakness and that's not something that they can be on board with, not with their terrorist agenda.

"Alexander Pierce must have wired the vast amount to funds to this Dr. Quin right?" Rae asks, looking over all the transactions that I managed to locate, none of them connecting it to a single source. "It would make the most sense."

While I agree that it does, HYDRA never was about making the most logical and sensible choices, that's what they want us to think. "Yeah, but HYDRA isn't always about doing things that make sense."

At that I scroll down on the browser until I see images of her before the procedure, a scowl always present on her face, then the next set of her during the operation, blood and everything, but before I get the chance to see the last one, I glance back at my friends.

Oliver watches us banter back and forth about possible motives and what they could be planning before piping in with an idea of his own. "Maybe taking your baby brother was a distraction."

Both Rae and I twist around to face him as he goes on with his thought, considering it is the theory that makes the most sense.

"I mean think about it," he motions to the files on my computer screen. "If they took your brother, they would know that your dad would go search for him with the other Avengers that were here and if they already knew that you would be coming here to tell him, they might have had Obadiah Stane attack you at the school and tell you that so you'd come back and tell him so while instead of watching Toby, he'd be worried about you in a school with no power."

The blood running in my veins freezes like ice, that actually makes a hell of a lot of sense. Obadiah said it was a warning from HYDRA but I knew he was dead for so long that if I were to see him, I would surely confess to my father all that's been happening as of late. Making the perfect opportunity while he was confronting me for someone to sneak in and steal baby Toby from his crib.

Especially considering this tower is so big that the likelihood of noticing right away would be very slim. Dad would go after his son and Steve would go to find an innocent child and to add along with already having it out for HYDRA, and Nat would go simply because it's the right thing to do. Thus leaving the tower nearly unprotected.

As for why they would care that the house is empty is beyond me. I'm not of much value now that there's Toby around, who are they more likely to be considered for, a nearly eighteen year old who is only biologically related to Tony, or their baby that shares both of their DNA. I think the answer is pretty damn obvious, but clearly they must need something from the tower.

The lights overhead flicker, sending us all on alert. Whispering to Rae and Oliver, I tell them to hide in my closet while I go investigate. Of course they refused, I just wanted it to be on record that I did tell them to hide somewhere. Slowly we creep toward my door when alarms ring as the power goes out. Only the door open before either of us get to it.

Someone dressed in all black, wearing a bullet proof vest, and a gas mask steps in, tossing a small cylinder shaped canister the spews out a white gas like someone spraying water from a hose out back. My eyes begin to burn as I cover my nose and mouth with my shawl but it's no use as the room begins to sway in and out of focus.

I get tunnel vision as the person steps towards me, while still conscious enough to understand what's going on, I stumble backwards, tripping over my bed and falling over to the other side of it, face pressing into the floor as my body gives out. It looks like a Halloween party in my room, smoke and fog all over, filling the darkness. I vaguely hear Raven shout my name before she falls to the ground, the smoke getting to all of us.

Desperately, I try to push myself up as the need to fight burns deep inside me like a furnace, but I'm so weak, so tired. All I want to do is give into the darkness tugging at my body, telling me to just let go. The person yanks the shawl away from me and I fin myself spiraling further and further down until sweet relief washes over me, pulling me into the darkness.