Aftermath
Chapter 25
Natasha and Sam stood behind Scott as he fiddled with the submarine's controls. It had been 15 minutes since they'd made contact again with Tony and Sharon and he'd been working diligently to stop the vessel.
"So, do you have anything yet?" Sam asked.
Nat hit Sam lightly on the upper arm to chastise him, but waited for Scott to reply.
"Well, this is a real pickle, yessiree. I don't know why I just said that," Scott said in one long breath.
"Scott, if you aren't able to do this, we can figure something else out," Steve told him.
Scot shook his head and held up an index finger to silence the group. He did a bit more button pressing before turning around to face the group.
"Voila!" he shouted while the sub stopped hard.
"Way to go, Tic Tac!" Sam clapped him on the back.
"That was iffy there for a minute, but, whoo!" Scott said. "Does this mean that I can be an official Avenger now?" he asked.
Steve gave him a small smile. "If when this whole thing is over with and we're all still alive, you're an Avenger for sure."
Scott smiled. "Is there some kind of secret handshake or code word?" he asked. "You can get that to me later; super not important right now."
"We aren't the Little Rascals, Lang," Tony deadpanned into their ears.
Steve had no idea what the Little Rascals were, but he didn't have the time to care or question it.
"Can you get us turned around?" he asked Scott.
"Oh, I, um…I'm gonna try," Scott said back.
"Sharon, Tony, have you begun moving yet?" Steve asked.
There was a long pause before they answered him back with the no that he didn't want to hear.
"We're coming to you, then," Natasha said. "Where are you? How do we get the coordinates? My GPS doesn't seem to be working."
"I'm having FRIDAY send our location to RedWing. You still have him, right, Wilson?"
"Affirmative," Sam said.
"Lang, will have to get RedWing connected to the sub's GPS. I can't get into this sub's network," Tony told them.
He had both hands on the controls and was focused on the screen in front of him. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Sharon wobble on her feet and he reached out to help her stay upright.
"Are you okay, kiddo?" Tony asked.
"I'm fine. Just a bit lightheaded. It's over now," she said. "It's probably just seasickness."
"We stopped moving half an hour ago," Tony replied.
"Well, I've been on this damn thing for hours. I can tell you I'm sick of the sea," Sharon said.
Tony was not convinced with her answer, but he had no choice but to continue to work and give instructions to FRIDAY.
"Just got your location, Stark," Sam told them. "Lang is uploading the info into the GPS."
"Good, good," Tony nodded. "Get moving ASAP."
Outside their barricaded door, a loud boom echoed and the two of them turned to face the door. They heard an exasperated scream that was followed by a second loud bang on the door.
"Oh, I think that's for you," Sharon told Tony. "And something tells me it's not the Avon Lady."
Tony's faceplate came down out of his helmet and the two of them readied themselves for the fight that was coming.
A third bang erupted around them and ten seconds later, the door flew open, hanging by a singular hinge. Some of Sin's robot army and a battering ram/bench lay forgotten in the hallway behind her as she stood in the doorway.
Stalking into the room, she was breathing hard and clearly seething with rage. She narrowed her eyes and stared the both of them down.
"You think you're so clever, so smart, don't you?" Sin said. "But look at you! The so-called smartest man in the world and you couldn't hack our computer software and you're still trapped here with me. I'm going to make for certain you are all dead. I'm going to see to that personally. And you, blondie, I'm going to make you really suffer."
"First, I gotta say, you're just delightful, princess. But I didn't let Loki and his band of merry aliens take over and…"
Sin screamed again. "My god! Don't you ever shut the hell up?! You all talk incessantly! I'm getting a migraine."
"I don't actually care!" Sharon shouted before rushing at Sin. She moved low and the two went down to the ground. The two launched into the fight that Sharon has been waiting for.
It wasn't until Sin pulled a knife out of nowhere and had it to Sharon's jugular.
"Tony, just shoot her!" Sharon hissed.
Tony had his hand raised and the repulsor readied, but he had no clear shot. He needed Sharon to move or he'd kill the both of them.
"I wouldn't do that if I were you, Mr. Stark," Sin said in an eerie sing-song voice.
"Just. Shoot. Her." Sharon said through her gritted teeth. "I'm so tired of your BS. Our real issue is Cathy, anyway," Sharon said.
Sin jerked the knife and a small trickle of blood dripped down Sharon's neck and onto her white suit.
"You're stupider than I thought!" Sin laughed as she held Sharon in a death grip. "I'm the one running this! I'm the one in charge! Cathy is…"
Sharon was able to distract her long enough to bend Sin's arm back almost to a breaking point. Her hand went slack in Sharon's grip and the knife clattered to the ground.
Sin grabbed a handful of Sharon's hair and tugged, forcing Sharon's head back. The two women were once more locked in a fight.
"You're a real bitch!" Sin shouted as she tried to get her hand out before Sharon's totally dislocated her shoulder.
"Now that isn't very nice," Tony said.
Tony hadn't mean to leave the fight to Sharon, but he'd taken the chance of Sin's distraction and had moved to the computer controls to try one more thing to get the sub moving again.
What he'd done hadn't worked and he turned back to Sharon while she jerked Sin's arm back once more. Sharon tugged hard again and Sin cried out in pain.
"Its okay, Tony. It's nothing I haven't heard before," Sharon said. "Are we moving?"
"We are," Tony nodded.
"Where are we going?" Sharon asked him.
"Excellent question, kiddo," Tony replied.
"You didn't do this?" Sharon asked.
Sin began to cackle and Sharon responding by wrenching the woman's arm back until she heard the telltale pop. Sin changed from the maniacal laughter to screaming in pain.
The faceplate on Tony's helmet moved back and he made eye contact with Sharon. She shrugged while she continued to hold Sin tight. Sharon knew that even wounded with a dislocated shoulder, Sin would continue to be dangerous.
Breathing hard and gathering some composure, Sin hissed back to Sharon. "We're re-routing," she said.
"Where?" Tony asked.
"You'll see when we get there. And I can guarantee you'll have a ton of fun," Sin hissed.
Sharon was getting angrier by the second, which was no small feat. She pulled on the pained shoulder again and caused more pain for Sin.
"You tell us where we're going or…"
"Stand down," one of the formerly broken down robot minions told them. There were now at least two dozen hive-minded robots standing in front of them with weapons raised in their direction.
"Damn it," Sharon hissed. She took her last chance and knocked Sin out while she was also distracted and she dropped to the ground, out cold.
"Let's do this," Tony said.
Tony and Sharon began to fight the robots that began to swarm them in the control room. When they thought they were nearing the end, a new batch would arrive.
Sharon was trapped between three when something familiar caught her attention. A red and blue blur flew past her and took out several of the robots in one fell swoop.
In an instant, the small control room was flooding with the other Avengers who were now joined by Vision.
Natasha joined Sharon and they were back to back fighting the robots.
"You guys decided to have a party without us?" Nat said before taking down her robots.
"I will definitely want to know how you guys got here, when we're done with these things," Sharon breathed hard. She was able to make eye contact with Steve across the room and she gave him a small smile before continuing her own fight.
"What the hell are these things?" Sam shouted.
"They're hive-minded robots," Tony said as he blasted one. He was trying to be careful because the small room did not lend itself to the blasting.
After an indeterminate amount of time and robots, they finally stopped coming. Sin was still out cold when Sharon checked on her.
"How did you get here?" Sharon said to the group.
"Vision met us with a quinjet," Wanda said as she smiled at him.
"We didn't want to miss out on all the fun," Natasha said.
"Do you know where this thing is headed?" Sam asked.
"No," Sharon said as she moved to stand by Steve. "We – I – got angry and decided I didn't want to talk to her anymore."
"I thought…" Steve said as he looked down into Sharon's eyes. "I'm so glad that you're okay."
"It's okay. I'm okay," Sharon said.
Steve smiled at Sharon and then turned to Tony. "Thank you, Tony," he said.
Tony shook his head. "You would have done the same thing, Cap," he said.
The two men shared their moment briefly before another familiar voice came over the submarine's sound system.
"You've done well so far and I do have to commend you," Cathy said. "But you've got an uphill battle. You'll be docking in ten minutes and I've got a thoroughly amazing surprise for you all. And it'll culminate in all of your deaths."
Cathy's voice was gone as quickly as it had come.
"Where the hell are we?" Tony asked Vision.
"Our last location was off the coast of Spain," Vision told him.
"Spain?" Sharon repeated. She was going to say something else, but was hit by another wave of lightheadedness.
"Sharon?" Steve said. "You look really pale."
"I'm fine," she hissed. "I just haven't eaten in a while and…I'm fine. I promise," she finished. "We just need to focus on the situation."
"Sleeping Beauty is waking up over here," Scott said.
All the faces turned toward Sin and by the time she was fully awake, she was staring into the faces of the Avengers.
"You're going to tell us where we're going," Steve said down into Sin's face.
…
Sin talked; after having her other shoulder threatened. And by the time she'd finished telling them where they were headed – to an underground facility on the coast of Spain – they'd reached their destination.
Apparently, this was where Cathy was holed up; this was where the new Hydra base had been established.
They essentially had no time to come up with a plan and Sin hadn't been to the facility, so she couldn't tell them what exactly they were walking into. And to top it all off, they were tired and low on firepower. The odds were stacked against them, but that was nothing new.
As a group, with Sin in tow as their prisoner, they emerged from the submarine and walked into the underground fortress that Hydra had built for themselves.
Steve Rogers was having flashbacks as he walked into the facility. It was modeled after one of the Hydra bases he had taken down in the forties. He shook his head to try and clear his mind, but it was difficult for him to focus.
"Steve?" Sharon said, noticing his hesitation as they walked. "Are you all right?" She asked.
"I'm fine. It's just…familiar. And I don't like that," he said.
"Have you been here before?" she asked him.
"No," he shook his head. "But it's just like one of the original Hydra bases. It's…"
They were stopped as Cathy, in all her self-appointed glory, appeared before them with what had to be hundreds of the Hydra robot soldiers.
"Couldn't get anyone else to join you so you had to build an army?" Tony asked her.
Cathy smiled evilly. "Mr. Stark, it was a pleasure to have a hand in your parents' deaths and it will be even greater to have orchestrated yours. My soldiers, you have your orders."
She turned on her heel and stepped back while the sea of robot soldiers swarmed them.
"Do we have a plan?" Sam shouted.
"Stay alert! Stay alive!" Steve shouted.
"Short, sweet and easy to remember," Tony said. "I like it!"
Everyone began to fight as the sea of robot soldiers came towards them. Reminiscent of the Ultron robots, but they were lacking any intelligence. They were all hive-minded and clearly Cathy was going for quantity over quality.
Tony and Steve were taking down a half dozen each at a time while the rest of them were doing their best to keep their heads above water. Cathy was standing at the back of the large hall watching with total glee as the Avengers were overwhelmed and significantly outnumbered.
Sharon knew she was going to have to get up to her somehow, but she kept getting bogged down with her set of robots. Every time she was able to take a step or two forward towards Cathy, she was blocked by another set of robots.
Those that could fly, with the exception of Wanda and Vision, were taking advantage of being able to get off of the ground periodically.
"I know this is part of being a part of the team, but this is getting to be a bit much," Scott shouted to Natasha.
She nodded. "I hate to say it, but I'm starting to agree with you," she said.
They were getting tired, and that was something that Cathy had obviously counted on. But despite their clear exhaustion, they fought on.
Vision was guarding Wanda during the whole thing. She wasn't great at hand to hand combat and while she would be able to use her powers to throw groups of the robots away, more would be rushing towards her and she was becoming overwhelmed. Vision was able to be the eyes on the back of her head; he was taking down the robot-soldiers as quickly as he could.
Despite the help, Wanda was quickly becoming overwhelmed by the amount of adversaries coming in her direction. She panicked as a dozen or so descended upon her and she used her powers to throw them in all directions. Seeing this, Steve hurriedly pulled Sharon out of the way of one that was sailing in her direction.
Wanda wanted to apologize, but there was no time. Another wave was coming towards her and she tried to deflect them, but missed. Wanda was knocked off her feet and laid temporarily stunned on the ground.
Vision and Sharon moved towards her and while Vision was able to take care of the onslaught, Sharon got Wanda to her feet.
"Thank you," Wanda told Sharon.
Sharon waved her off. "No problem. We've gotta help each other," she said with a weary smile.
Wanda returned an equally exhausted look and they summoned the last of their energy to fight again. With one last look, Sharon jumped into the fray. She was determined to make her way through to Cathy. She was going to get there or she was going to die trying. She was going to make the woman pay for choosing Hydra.
…
Author's note: okay, there was the latest installment. We're nearing the end! Hopefully, despite my long absences, you're still with the story!
Let me know what you thought of this chapter, please and thank you!