A/N: Ok, so spread your arms out wide and receive this virtual hug. You guys have no idea how syked I when I saw that I had received more than one hundred views. I would've posted this last night but work sort of drained me out, but here I am now. As always...wait, one more thing-(Hurensohn= Son of a bitch!)...Alright, now as always...

Read it. Enjoy it. Review it!


There's no place like home...there's no place like home. Puncture...blood...pain. There's no place like home...there's no place like-. Katie bit down on her tongue to bring herself back to reality. She had a plan, and said plan failed the moment she underestimated the Specialist.

She watched as his hands began unclasping her arm, the moment it was free she reached forward grabbing the man's neck and squeezing as hard as she could. She saw the two guard's raise their guns to her.

"Do not move or I promise to crush his wind pipe" Katie growled through clenched teeth. She turned her eyes to the man whose life she literally held in her hand. "Where is he?"

"Where is who exactly?"

"Adam Lumen Jr, I know he's here" Katie said before turning back to the guards. "Where is he!?"

"Thank you" The Specialist said and Katie turned back to him just as the syringe he must have pulled from his pocket was jammed into her thigh. In mere second everything was just gone.

The Specialist had been at it for hours, a scalpel here, electroshock there. They were developing a sadistic pattern a torture. It was after the first couple of hours that Katie was simply just a body lying on a table. The light behind her eyes was gone as she removed herself from the situation. Now she just retreated to the world inside of her head. No pain...no torture. Just home.

It was the moment the Specialist had shocked her with a high voltage of electricity and gotten no reaction did he know something was wrong. He walked over to her shinning his flashlight into her eyes.

"We can't have that now" he said before giving her face a hard slap. "Wake up, wake-" he stopped just as he was about to slap her again, when an idea suddenly hit him. "Brilliant" he whispered looking back down to her eyes.

Of course Tony Stark had a place in nearly every, if not every city. His place in DC was big, of course, but also secluded. Inside Justin and Tony were both working tirelessly on their computers to find any information on the black's location. Bruce was off doing something, somewhere else because the room they were in was just way too stressful. After every failed attempt it seem anger and frustration grew in them all, but for Bruce that could manifest in an entirely different way that they just did not have time for.

"Anything?" Clint asked for the hundredth time or so it had seemed.

"Barton, I am going to kick you out like I did Bruce" Tony said as he swiped away on the hologram. "These things take time and-"

"We don't have time!" Clint snapped and both Tony and Justin looked over to him. "Look, right now the last thing we have is time so speed this shit up"

"You know something" Tony accused standing from his chair and walking over to the man. "What is it?" Clint shook his head. "Barton-"

"The Specialist was called in" Clint muttered and Tony quirked an eyebrow in confusion.

"I'm sorry, did you say a specialist was brought in?" Tony asked.

"No" Justin said and they turned to him. "The Specialist, capital "S" he shook his head. "I thought he was a myth too" Justin turned back to his screen and continued his search.

"Ok, who is this Specialist and what does he have to do with Katie?" Tony asked looking back to Clint.

"The Specialist is Shield's number one interrogations agent" Clint replied. "It's his specialty, hence the name" Clint shook his head at the thought. "The guy's some crazy doctor who was absolutely no soul, no morality, no-"

"I get it" Tony said holding up his hands to stop the words that just were not helping the situation. "So torture?" Clint nodded and Tony let out a long breath his hands clenched at his side. "Ok" he turned. "We're turning this up a notch Worhol" he walked back over to his holos. "I want her found"

"The thing is sir" Justin said looking over to Tony. "If "The Black" does exist I doubt it would just be lying in Shield's files" he looked back to Clint. "This is something only the big wigs would have knowledge of so it's them who would have to access it"

"Like Nicky" Tony said and Justin looked over Tony and nodded. "Then we get in, I implant a bug to hack into his computer and we're in"

"No, we're not in" Justin said with a shake of his head. "These files we've been looking into, why they were so easy to access is because they're relatively harmless. People like the director and Agent Pierce, their firewalls have firewalls wrapped in firewalls"

"Good thing I'm the master of firewalls" Tony said.

"No you're not" Justin countered. "The creator of the firewalls is the master"

"Katie?"

"Yeah" Justin said. "After she conquered your impenetrable firewall, she twisted it and molded it making it better and then she handed it to you" a smile came to Justin's face. "And then she made better than the best and handed it over to Shield"

"If she hated Shield so much, why would she do that?" Tony asked looking over to Justin before turning to Clint. "Why would she help them?"

"She wouldn't" Clint said. "If they needed something that secure, she'd make it seem like she was helping them, but she would also wonder what they hiding that they would need it"

"My curious kitten" Tony muttered as he ran a finger over his unshaven chin. "Mortal flaw or brilliance"

"Brilliance if she handed Shield a lock to a door they didn't want opened" Justin said turning back to his monitor.

"How is that brilliant?" Tony asked.

"Because you never create a lock with giving yourself a spare" Justin muttered gaining confused looks from Tony and Clint. Justin turned noticing the looks. "It means-"

"We know what it means" Clint said. "Why did you have to use an analogy like we're idiots"

"I wasn't-" he shook his head. "Well I did and I didn't" he looked back over to Clint. "That's how she said it" Justin said turning back to his computer. "She was big with analogies. But if I'm right, we won't have to hack into Shield"

"No, just hack in to Kitten" Tony said turning back to his own holo. "I think I would prefer Shield"

"Just do what you have to do to find her" Clint said. "The Specialist doesn't hold back punches"

Katie was pulled from the world in her head when she felt drops of water hit her eyes. She blinked trying to come back to the situation, even if deep down she didn't want to.

"There you are" The Specialist said looking down to her. "You can't go into shock right in the middle of our fun" he shined the flashlight in to her eyes. "You did give me an idea though." he turned off the light and brought his eyes to meet hers. "Your endurance is unprecedented and I think you would be perfect to be my second specimen" Katie only blinked in response, unable to form words, much less complete sentences. "There will be pain, but it would seem that you have no problem with pain" The Specialist looked over to see the light above the door flick on and he smiled. "Now all I have to do is convince the boss" he looked back down to Katie. "I'll be right back" The Specialist grabbed a towel and wiped off his hands as he headed out the door to see a familiar face. "Agent Pierce I-"

"Cut the crap" Pierce interrupted. "You called me in the middle of the night with some big idea, and it better be a good one"

"I believe it is" The Specialist replied. "I think Ms. Banks could be the perfect candidate for the treatment"

"Are you joking?" Pierce asked. "We're still figuring out the kinks with your current candidate"

"But I really think Ms. Banks may react better to the treatment" The Specialist replied. "And with her level of training-"

"Doctor, the only thing I want from that woman is answers!" Agent Pierce snapped. "I want to know what her father knew and then she's dead" he took a step toward the man. "Do not call me again until you have what I am asking for, do you understand?"

"Of course" The Specialist replied with a nod.

"Good" was all Pierce said before turning and turning away.

"I will not pass up this opportunity" the Specialist muttered before turning and pushing open the door. "My dear it would seem-" he stopped speechless when he walked over to see that table Katie was strapped to now empty. He looked around the room, until his eye lifted up to the ceiling to see an open vent grate. "Hurensohn!" He turned and walked back over to the door before pulling the alarm.

Katie crawled in the tight space of the vents, trying her best to keep her eyes open and her body moving. That was her hardest challenge at the moment. Keeping her body going when everything inside of her was protesting. She didn't know how long she'd been moving, but the moment she heard the alarms she knew she couldn't stop. The moment she did stop wasn't by choice. She'd reached forward her hand landing on a grate that seemed loose and before she knew it, she was falling. She hit concrete with a loud thud, pain shooting through her instantly. She laid there flat on her back until she heard a noise come from somewhere in the dark room. Katie turned her head squinting trying to make something out of the darkness, but she couldn't see anything. Soon the noise got closer and Katie knew just lying there on her back just wasn't an option and so she found just an ounce of strength that allowed her to make it to her feet. She began backing away hoping she was putting distance between her and the mystery sound, but that hope was crushed the moment her back hit something that wasn't a wall. She hesitated for a moment before finally turning around, the moment she did she felt a hand wrap around her neck and in one swift movement she was being pressed against the wall. She still couldn't see anything but she could feel a warm breath on her face.

"Who are you?" a deep rough voice growled.

"I'm nobody" Katie replied pulling at his hand, but he was strong. It was getting harder and harder to breathe and she knew soon she'd pass out. "Let me go" she ground out. "Please" the alarms stopped ringing and suddenly the lights came on, and Katie found a pair of blue eyes piercing through long dark locks of hair. They turned toward the door when they heard movement. "Please" he turned back to her. "Help me" he let out a growl before releasing his hand from her neck.

"Under the bed" he ordered. Katie looked over to the small bed that sat against the door. "Now!" he said and Katie quickly ran over sliding under the small space under the bed. She brought her knees up to her chest as she closed her eyes. She had no idea how the hell she was going to get out of this.

The next morning Steve found himself wandering aimlessly down the halls of Shield not sure what he should be doing. He had a meeting with the director, but that wasn't until hours later. He'd hadn't ran into the guys, but figured they were probably still trying to find Katie. Steve had mixed feelings about the entire situation. A part of him felt just as the others did. That the woman who fought side by side with him in New York couldn't possibly be fighting for the other side. But then there was the part of him that realized that he didn't know Katie that well, actually he probably knew less about her than any of the others. Steve had been deep in thought when he walked into Natasha.

"Oh, sorry" Steve said with a small smile.

"Thinking hard there Captain?" Natasha said. "Careful you may hurt yourself"

"Funny" Steve replied sarcastically. "So, is there any news on Katie?"

"Not that I know" Natasha replied. "But I'm not the one you should ask, I'm not apart of this rescue mission" Steve looked confused. Sure he'd noticed a very odd relationship between Katie and Natasha but he assumed it was just their way.

"I thought you two were friends?" Steve asked and Natasha restrained herself from rolling her eyes.

"This isn't about being friends, this is about the truth and at the moment I don't know what the truth is" Natasha said. "I need more than what I want to be true and more actual truth" she shook her head. "There's so much unknown with this entire situation"

"You're right" Steve said before nudging his head toward the elevator. "C'mon"

"Where?" Natasha asked following after the man.

"We're going to get answers" Steve replied as the elevator doors slid closed.

Back at Stark's DC penthouse, everyone was practically running on fumes. Justin and Tony were still sitting at their monitors moving slower than before. Clint sat reading through Shield files trying to keep his eyes open. The door swung open, but everyone was too tired to see who it was. "You guys have been at it all night?" Bruce asked walking in a laptop under his arm. "Have you guys found anything?"

"Not yet" Tony said lifting his head and rubbing his tired eyes. "Cracking Kat's computer is like trying to break down a brick wall with a spoon"

"At this point, I'm not sure what else to do" Justin said looking at the blinking red "ACCESS DENIED" message that appeared on his screen.

"I have her laptop" Bruce said holding up the laptop. "I didn't know you guys needed it"

"And you're just now telling us!" Tony snapped standing to his feet and walking over to pluck the laptop from his friend's hand. "Give me that!"

"Alright, so we have her laptop, do we have access to Shield's hard to reach files?" Clint asked and he and Justin walked over to hover over Tony's shoulder.

"Sure" Tony said as he typed. "If we can figure out her password" he typed in a few keys. "It's not kitten" he looked up to the guys. "C'mon throw out some ideas!"

She had the undeniable feeling that she was being watched. It was that moment that Katie realized that she had fallen asleep. She cracked open her eyes to once again see those blue eyes staring back at her. But now they seemed to have softened overnight. He pressed a finger to his lips for her to remain quiet. He held out a hand and Katie looked down to it for a moment before taking it and letting him pull her from beneath the bed. She stood to her feet the pain lessened and replaced with a nagging soreness.

"They will be back" he said and Katie looked over to him. "I think they're determined to tear this place apart to find you" she walked over to the door and peaked through the small peep hole. "What did you do?" she sighed turning back to him.

"Started asking questions" she replied. "What about you, what did you do to get in here?" he turned away from her.

"I-I don't know" he said quietly. "You have to go"

"Ok" Katie says turning back to look out the door. Once the coast seemed clear she knew this was her chance. She turned back to see him just standing there looking over to her. "Thanks, for your help" she grabbed the the door to open it but it was locked. "Damn" she turned back to the stranger. "It's locked" he walked over and she back away slightly, still a little wary of the man. "It has to be opened from the outside?" he gave her a nod. "Then it looks like this is going to get a little more rough" he turned looked back to her confused. "And I may need your help"

Fury looked up from his desk just as Steve and Natasha walked in. He let out an exasperated sigh as he dropped his pen and sat back in his chair.

"Director" Steve greeted with a nod.

"Captain Rodgers" The director said before looking over to Natasha. "I thought our meeting wasn't scheduled till later"

"We're here because we need answers" Steve said taking a step forward placing him in front of the director's desk. "About Katie"

"I already told you-"

"I know what you told us sir, but it's not enough" Steve replied. "You have to understand what you're asking. I mean you're asking me to believe that the woman who fought with me, whose work is part of the reason I'm here today fights for the other side" Steve shook his head. "Now I've been here and I've taken practically everything I've been given but if you want me behind you on this then I'm going to need more"

"I can't give you that" The director said as he stood to his feet.

"Sir-"

"I can't give it to you because I don't have it myself" The director said gaining confused looks from both Natasha and Steve. "Banks was here on my computer, but she was able to hide her tracks so we don't know what she was looking for"

"Then how can you accuse her of being a traitor?" Steve asked.

"Because of who her father was" Fury replied and Steve still didn't understand. "Martin Chambers was Katie's father and a former Shield agent" the director sighed. "He was the best of the best until he was accused of selling agency secrets and he was deemed a traitor"

"Was it true?" Steve asked.

"I don't know" The director said. "I was just a level five at the time and all I knew was that one day I had a partner and the next day he was a traitor"

"They think Katie's like her father?" Steve asked and the director didn't say anything. "Then why bring her here. I know you knew who her father was before you recruited her so why bring her here?"

"Because I wanted what you want right now!" The director snapped. "Answers Captain. And as long as she's been here I still don't have any, so please do not walk in here and demand something I can not give you"

"Then who can?" Steve demanded. The more he learned the more he believed that there was something else going on here and the lack of answers was only feeding into those thoughts.

"That I can not tell you" The director said sitting back down behind his desk. "Investigations concerning employees-"

"But she's not" Natasha said finally speaking. Fury and Steve turned to her. "She's not an employee, and I do not believe that she is a traitor, sir"

"Neither do I" The director sighed.

"Then why was she taken to the black?" Natasha asked and the director looked over to her and the look on his face was undeniable. He didn't know what she was talking about. "You don't know?" he didn't say anything as he turned away from their stares. "Sir-"

"Leave" The director ordered not turning back to him.

"But director-"

"Captain as the director of this agency you should know that when I say leave, that I want you to do just that!" Fury said cutting his eyes to Steve. "This is over, now go" Steve stood there for a moment before Natasha grabbed his arm and pulled her with him to the door.

"Something definitely isn't right" Steve said as they headed for the elevators. "Did you see his face, he had no idea what you were talking about"

"Moves are being made without his knowledge" Natasha said before pressing the button to the elevator. "That worries me"

"Good" Steve said and she looked over to him. "Well at least it shows that you have a soul" the doors slid open. "I was starting to have serious doubts there" they stepped onto the elevator and turned to the doors. "We should find the others"

"Yep" Natasha said before punching him hard in the grabbed his shoulder and stepped away. "You deserved that"

"Yeah" he said with a smile before turning back to the doors. "I did"

Tony sat in front of Katie's computer as another error message appeared. He angrily pushed the laptop away.

"This woman can not be that complicated" Tony said standing to his feet.

"Tony have you not being paying attention?" Bruce asked. "This woman maybe the most complicated person on the planet" he shook his head. "And that's coming from the guy with the rage monster inside of him"

"Let me try" Justin said taking Tony's seat and pulling Katie's laptop in front of him. "Tony's right, she's not that complicated, especially when it comes to this" Justin began typing away. "The greatest hiding spot is in plain sight" he stared at the screen for a moment when an idea popped into his head. "She wouldn't be that evil" he muttered as he typed in a work and suddenly gained access. "You evil little genius" he looked up to the guys. "I'm in"

"How the hell-" Tony walked over as they all crowded above the laptop. "What was the password?"

"Password" Justin said.

"Yeah, was it?" Tony asked looked down to the young man.

"Password" Justin said again.

"Right, what was it?" Tony asked clearly getting annoyed.

"Password!" Justin snapped turning to the billionaire. "Her password is the word "Password" ok?"

"Ok, chill mutchkin" Tony said patting the man's head as they turned back to the screen.

"Alright, is there anything about Shield or the black?" Clint asked as Justin began typing away.

"She has so many files, I don't-" Justin stopped when he saw something. "Interesting"

"What?" Bruce asked looking over his shoulder.

"No, there's a file labeled Pandora's Box" Justin said. "I wonder-" he clicked on the file and suddenly the screen seemed to be glitching. Letters and numbers rapidly moved over the screen until it just went black.

"What the hell did you do?" Tony asked just seconds before Shield's logo appeared on the screen

"Welcome director" a voice said from the computer. "How can I help you today?" The guys shared a look of surprise before turning back to the computer.

"Evil genius" Justin muttered before standing up and backing away. "What did I just do?" he looked over to the other. "Do you know what I just did, I could-" he shook his head. "I could end up in the black for this"

"Calm down" Clint said. "You're not going to end up in the black"

"I just accessed the director's personal files which is probably at the top of the list of rules that you're not supposed to break" Justin said getting more and more nervous with every passing second. "I was up for a promotion, and I was going ask out Stacey" He looked over to see eyes on him. "Why are you not as freaked out about this as I am?"

"Because I'm rich" Tony said hand on his chest, before turning to Clint. "He can kill you with an arrow, which not a lot of people can do" he pointed to Bruce. "And he has a hulk, which gets him out of pretty much anything." Tony turned sitting down and began typing away. "So I doubt this place is actually called the black" Tony began scanning the director's files. "Or maybe it is" they looked over his shoulder. "Operation. B.L.A.C.K"

"Location?" Clint asked and Tony typed away before a map appeared a dot in the center. Clint looked at it and smiled. "I'm coming Kat" he turned and headed for the door.

"Hey, wait!" Bruce called and Clint stopped and turned to them. "You can't just go in there, we need a plan"

"With all due respect Doc, this isn't my first rescue mission" Clint said before turning.

"But this is the first time you were rescuing someone from your own people" Tony said and Clint stopped once again. "This place, this black, it's Shield, the people who have your sworn allegiance, so you going in there, taking someone they call a traitor, what do you think that will make you?"

"I don't care what it makes me as long as I know she's alright!" Clint said. "If the people I've sworn my allegiance to could do this, take her and hurt her then they don't deserve my allegiance" they all stood there in silence for a moment.

"Good answer Katniss" Tony said with a clap of his hands. "Alright, let's go" Tony started walking toward the door.

"I thought you blew up all your suits?" Bruce asked and Tony just shook his head.

"Not all of them, what do you think I'm an idiot?" Tony called as he left the room.

"What the hell was that?" Clint asked looking over to Bruce.

"That was Tony's way of seeing if he could really count on you" Bruce said. "I think it was also his way to see how much you really care about her" Clint shook his head before turning and leaving as well.

"Uh, does that mean I can go now?" Justin asked and Bruce turned to him and shook his head. "But-" Bruce raised an eyebrow and Justin shut his mouth.

"We still have to figure out what she was looking for on Fury's computer" Bruce said nudging his head toward the computer. Justin simply sighed before walking over to Katie's laptop.

Katie's back was pressed against the wall as she watched the mystery man walk over to the door and bang loudly. Soon the a video feed appeared on the door from the other side. A man's face appeared.

"What do you want?" The guard asked.

"Isn't it time for my treatment?" The man asked.

"No treatment today, all prisoners are on lockdown until further notice" The guard replied.

"I need my treatment" the man growled throwing a fist to the door. "I need my treatment!" the man slammed his head into the door repeatedly. Katie heard a beeping sound followed by a click and soon the door was sliding open and in walked two of the guards. They walked toward the man, but Katie let out a whistle and they turned to her.

"You guys looking for me?" Katie asked. Both men reached for their guns, but before they could the mystery man tackled one while Katie kicked the other right in the gut. "You guys really need to travel in at least three, because two will always get their asses kicked" she threw a punch to his face. "Always" It didn't take long to knock the guards out, but when they finally did Katie found herself beyond exhausted.

"You're bleeding" the man said. Katie looked over to him to see his eyes on her shirt. She looked down to see the dark stains of blood.

"That's not from this fight" Katie replied as the memory of the Specialist flashed in her mind. He reached a hand toward her shirt, but Katie backed away.

"I just-" he shook his head. "I sorry, I shouldn't have"

"It's fine" Katie says. "After everything that's-" she shook her head. "I just don't want to be touched right now" The man nodded in understanding. Katie turned and walked over to the door, peeking into the empty hall. "I think now would be a good time to go" she looked back over to the man.

"Here" he said reaching down and snagging a security badge from one of the guards. "Take this, it's get you out of here" Katie took the key card and looked down to it before looking back over to the man.

"Come with me" she said. She didn't know why, but she had a feeling this was the last place this guy was supposed to be.

"You don't know why I'm here" he said shaking his head.

"Well apparently neither do you" Katie said taking a step toward him. "Look I can't explain it, but I just don't think you shouldn't be here"

"And I can't imagine myself anywhere else" he replied taking a step back. "You should go" Katie stood there for a moment in hesitation.

"You can't help those who don't think they need help"

It would seem once again her father's wise words were reigning truth. So she took a deep breath before turning and walking toward the door. She gave him one final glance and he gave her a slight nod before watching her disappear into the hall.

Katie walked down the halls as quickly as she could while avoiding all security cameras overhead. She froze in place the moment she heard voices and footsteps approaching. She looked around for a place to hide and her salvation came in the form of a door. She quickly ran over, using the key card to unlock it and stepped inside before she could be noticed. Katie looked out the peephole watching as the guards, their guns held firmly walk through the halls. Katie closed her eyes and turned resting her back on the door.

"How are you going to get out of here?" she muttered to herself.

"There is no way out" a voice said startling her. She opened her eyes to see a man lying on a cot, his back toward her. "This is the doorway to death, and once you step through it there's no going back" his voice, it sounded familiar. Katie took a single step forward but stopped when the man turned over giving him a good look at his face. Though it was badly scarred and swollen, Katie would recognize that face anywhere. "Ah, Ms. Chambers, I guess we're destined to see death together, just like our dads, huh?"

"I'm thinking you'll see death before I do Adam" Katie replied closing the distance between her and the man. "But first I have some questions"


A/N: Well there you have it. Soo... the word "Brainwashed" has been floating around. I wasn't planning on anything, but then that word just wouldn't let me go so maybe... just maybe there will be something. That is all my lawyer advises me to say at the moment.

You know what to do... Feed the author ;)