A/N. Heyy :) I give you... chapter 35! I bet you'll enjoy this one ;)

CHAPTER XXXV

Tania screamed in protest. She yanked and pulled and kicked and flailed but the two guards holding her down kept her at bay while another two worked on subduing her boyfriend a few feet away. They were going to hurt him. She could feel it in her gut.

Her body ached and protested. She had barely moved in days but she had never felt more invigorated to use her muscles. She had no idea what they were doing to Steve but she knew she couldn't let it happen. She brought her knee up to the face of the man on her right and brought the forefront of her elbow to the nose of the man on her left before kicking out her left leg and knocking back the first man she'd hit. But the second one got in a good punch to the face and she fell to the floor, dazed. A boot stomped on her back and she gasped, using the last of her energy to turn her head towards Steve.

He was on his knees, still in his chains, with his hands in front of him and his head tilted all the way to one side uncomfortably. There were two more men who she now realized were working on removing the comm from his ear. She knew how painful that was. It was like tearing the skin from your body slowly and painfully and she didn't want him to feel that.

She tried to get up but she was stuck under that soldier's boot and she was forced to watch as Steve tried to fight off the henchmen. He threw one of them over his shoulder before his leg swung out and struck the knees of the other one, putting them both on their backs. The third minion (one that had been originally holding Tania) ran forward and shot Steve in the stomach – again. That meant it was probably midnight. She and Steve had come to think of each of those gunshots as Noon and Midnight to help tell time. Of course, there was no way to be one hundred percent accurate, but it was all they had. So in that sense, it was officially the sixteenth.

Tania didn't have much time to think as blood began spewing from Steve's wound and he clenched his teeth tightly, leaning forward with his fists on the ground. One HYDRA soldier tilted his ear, grabbed the tweezers and the comm and yanked. Steve yelled out for a split second before he clamped his mouth shut and held as still as possible so as not to make the pain worse.

The man kept pulling as hard as he could, eventually putting his foot on Steve's shoulder to shove him away while pulling. Blood was seeping from his ear like a waterfall and Tania wanted to kill them not for what they did to her, but for what they were doing to Steve.

After several agonizing minutes, the man gave the comm one last tug before he fell backward with the tweezers in hand and landed on his back while Steve fell to the side. The man above her removed his boot and she could breathe again. The quartet stalked out of the room, laughter echoing around them, before slamming the door shut behind them.

Tania scrambled over to Steve and tentatively picked up his head. There was blood everywhere and she knew she had to clean it up. She rushed over to the first aid kit and grabbed everything she needed. This was probably around her tenth time doing this. She was practically an expert now. She began to clean the blood gently off his face, neck, ear, and abs. He had lost the entire front of his shirt long ago in the many gunshot wounds and it sat on his shoulders uselessly like a button-up T-shirt that wasn't buttoned.

He lay there, breathing ragged, watching her face while she worked. Once she had his torso wrapped up nice and tight, she went to his ear. Once she was satisfied, she ran her hands through dirty, matted hair and finally let the tears she'd been holding back fall. He reached up and wiped them away softly with his thumb.

"I'm okay," he promised her. "It's just pain. It will be over eventually."

She nodded, trying as hard as she could to believe him. Her fingers ran through his hair and she massaged his head. She hadn't done it in a while but she knew he was putty in her hands whenever she used to do it. Her magic touch apparently hadn't lost its magic because Steve was humming and closing his eyes in contentment. She smiled at him. He was so… brave. So courageous. So hopeful. He had something she desperately needed: faith. She knew her team was looking for them, she just didn't know if they would be found. Steve appeared to have convinced himself that the Avengers would save them. Tania wasn't as sure.

They sat like for a while, unsure of the time, and she was pretty sure he fell asleep at some point (but he was awake now) and all the while, she continued to rub her fingers in comforting circles on his scalp. She really wanted to move. She wanted to stand up and do something and move around but she refused to leave Steve's side. He was chained to the wall. If he couldn't move around, then she wouldn't. Even if it got extremely boring just sitting there, not talking.

Suddenly, the door opened and in came Klaus. She and Steve both turned their heads to look at him before going back to each other. The old man rolled closer to them and dropped off their food, to which they quickly took and started eating. "I disabled the volume again," he said to them. They looked at him expectantly. "There's a key to his chains hidden in your food."

Stania did their best to try not to react for the sake of the cameras but it was pretty hard. They stopped chewing, making sure they weren't eating it, before they continued and swallowed, waiting for him to continue.

"I'm busting you out of here but if anyone asks, I was trying to poison you." He waved a finger between them both. "Now before I go, there's something I gotta tell ya." He stared directly into Tania's eyes. "Back in the day, I kind of had a little crush on you. And if I was still young, I'd kiss you full on the lips, Captain America or no, but since I'm not…" He leaned forward and kissed her cheek before either of them could do anything. He sat back. "Viel Glück."

He rolled out of the room. Tania looked to Steve for translation. "He said, 'good luck'." He looked down at their food. "How are we supposed to get out with cameras watching?"

She shrugged and took another bite, searching for the key thoroughly in her mouth before swallowing. She didn't taste anything anymore. It was just bland slop that she stuffed down her throat. On her next bite, she felt the metal key inside her mouth. She moved to sit next to Steve and put his arm around her before spitting it into his palm. He closed his fingers around it and pretended it was just another one of their snuggle sessions.

"You know," he whispered in her ear, "Just because there are cameras, doesn't mean anyone's watching."

He had a point. Except you could never be too careful. She gave him a disbelieving look.

He chuckled. "You're right. We should be careful anyway." He kissed the top of her head and mumbled into her ear. "How are we going to do this? Let's say we get out, we don't have Jarvis anymore to tell us where to go."

She raised an eyebrow.

"Well… I remember the way he was showing us earlier, but it leads to the pit."

She shivered but otherwise didn't react. She nodded minutely.

"Alright, then. I promise I'll protect you this time. I swear on my shield I won't let them get to you."

She laughed and kissed his jaw lightly.

"I'm going to slide the key into the slot and you're going to turn it, okay?"

She nodded.

"We're going to do that for all four chains."

She nodded again.

"Go." He slipped one hand over the manacle on his other wrist and yawned, pretending that was why his hand took the path it did. Tania slid her hands up his arms and around his neck (but not before twisting the key and letting the metal slide off his wrist). She buried herself deeper into his chest while he working on his other wrist behind his back and then handed her the key. There was no way to this discreetly. They were just going to have to do it and get out. She released his ankles and pulled him to his feet. He was a little wobbly but they were both aching to move.

They ran to the door. New problem. How were they going to open it? Tania grabbed a smaller pair of tweezers from the first aid kit and began trying to pick the lock. Natasha had given her "lock-picking one-oh-one" once after a mission where Tony had been locked in a closet and didn't know how to get out. With a final twist, the lock clicked open and Steve pulled it open to reveal a henchman waiting there with a gun.

Before he could shoot, she reacted instinctively and swung her right fist forward, clocking him just shy of his left eye. He fell to the ground and she whipped out her hand in pain. Punching people hurt. She stepped over him while Steve grabbed the gun and shot him. She wasn't even phased by death anymore. She'd seen too much of it by this point not just in the HYDRA base, but in her entire life time.

The two of them ran as silently as they could down the hallway they had last gone to. They had elected not to hold hands this time so that they wouldn't be held back when it came to fighting. They rounded a corner and there were two guards walking innocently. Stania exchanged a brief look before running forward at the same time and kicking them both in the chests, sending them flying backwards (okay, only Steve could make someone fly with a kick). He quickly knocked them out, not using the gun so they could stay as quiet as possible. The two of them dragged the bodies into one of the rooms and closed the door.

Around every corner there were at least one or two more guards walking around. What were they even doing, anyway? Didn't these people have jobs? Either way, they didn't stand a chance against the newly synchronized power couple plowing through their numbers. After being together practically every second for the past six days, Steve and Tania had become attuned to each other's senses and were able to fight and move as one entity. Despite being locked up and restrained and immobile for the majority of the week, they were both determined that this time would be different. Steve's injuries were also fairly recent, but he wasn't about to break his promise to Tania. Not again.

Around another corner, Tania grabbed the shoulders of one man and pushed him down so that he was bending over before she jumped and slid down his back to kick the next one in the throat with her bare foot (she'd lost her shoes a long time ago) while Steve delivered an uppercut to the man she'd just bent over.

They stowed away the bodies and kept running. The alarms had yet to sound, which was odd but good. But after going through a door, someone started shooting and suddenly it was chaos. There were at least a good dozen soldiers in there with guns of their own. Tania grabbed Steve's hand and yanked him backwards.

They ran back into the hall before letting go of each other and turning another corner. That's when the sirens went off and everything white turned red as the lights flashed. There were shouts and German curses and footsteps and bullets firing.

The couple came to the place where the pit should have been – but wasn't. They were grateful and kept going, not stopping to think that maybe they were going the wrong way. They had passed their last "check point" so to speak. Neither of them knew where to go from here. They just kept running.

Tony and Rhodey were scanning the forested area with a picture of the map Pepper had sent them on in their HUDs. They had given up the race by now, as it had been a good two hours since they'd received the map and had yet to find anything. The two best friends flying around in their armour had been joined some time ago by Thor, using his lightning to fly and carrying Steve's shield on his back to return it to the Captain, Peter, using his webs to swing through the trees of the forest below, and Clint, Natasha, Bruce, and Agent Hill, all in a quinjet.

"One hour to midnight guys," Clint reminded. Everyone groaned.

"Look, I feel guilty enough as it is! No need to rub it in that it's Tania's birthday tomorrow," Tony snapped.

"You actually remembered her birthday?" Peter asked, surprised.

He shrugged. "Pepper set up a reminder on my phone to shock me every time it gets close to someone's birthday because she was fed up with me forgetting all the time."

"Nice."

"Guys, I think I found something!" Rhodey called to them. Tony was there in a matter of moments. "See that?" Iron Patriot pointed at a clearing in the trees. "That's unnatural but we can't see anything. It's suspicious. We should take a look."

"Whatever you say, Platypus." The two of them dove downward, soon joined by Thor and Peter while the quinjet hovered above.

As soon as the four men (three men and one boy) broke through the clearing, they saw the compound. Immediately after putting themselves in plain view, the guards on duty began shooting at them.

"Ah! Peter exclaimed, narrowly missing a bullet that tore his Spider-man suit. "Aw man! I just got this fixed!"

"Legolas! Red! Get down here!" Tony shouted as he began firing repulsors at the guards. "This is the place!"

Clint and Natasha dove off the quinjet and landed in a very tall tree. They both slid down until about halfway where she jumped off and he found a comfy spot on a branch to keep an eye on things. He pulled out his bow as she rolled on the ground and started shooting. It was a full-out battle and these Avengers were not leaving without their friends.

Back at the Tower, all anyone could do was sit there and wait. Well, except Pepper. Once JARVIS informed her that the battle had started, she ordered that he fire up her Rescue suit and hook up the ability to control it from afar as she put on the headset and gloves and boots and ran to the gym, where she would the room to move around. Everyone followed.

Tony landed on the ground and began blasting the seemingly endless amount of guards with the gun on his back when he was blasted forward and fell on the ground. He grunted and pushed himself up. He looked up just as Rescue landed in front of him and punched the guy in the face.

"PEPPER?!"

She turned to face him and helped him up. "Hi Honey." She turned and used the bottom of her foot to blast another guard away from them. The two of them continued fighting, back to back, while they continued the conversation. "I knew you wouldn't destroy my suit."

"Pepper, you should get of here! It's not safe!"

"I'm not really here." She used her thrusters to fly upward just a few feet, putting extra power into the knee she shoved in one man's face before dropping back down again. "I'm at the Tower."

"But- Watch out!" She ducked and he fired a repulsor over her back before she straightened out. "You know what? You're not in danger, sounds perfect to me. Stay as long as you want."

"Thanks." She grunted as she threw another man into six others, knocking them over like bowling pins.

"You know I have never been more turned on than I am right now?"

She laughed and kicked another man in the face. "Even when I was injected with Extremis?"

He fired his chest beam. "Even then. Marry me."

"What?" She turned to face him just as he shoved her out of the way and whacked one man in the head, knocking him out instantly.

"I said marry me. Do I have to say please too?"

"Wha-? I- I- Marriage? Now?"

He spun around and delivered a good kick to the chest to another henchman. "Yeah. Well, not get married now. But proposing now. I even have a ring and everything. Of course, I don't have it on me though. Why would I bring it to a place you weren't going to be? I've had it for quite a while actually. I bought it back in December. Steve's been hiding it in his room so that you wouldn't find it."

"Wait, you've been hiding my engagement ring in Steve's room this whole time?"

"Yeah." He shot yet another minion.

"Oh crap."

"What?"

"Tania saw the ring. She thought Steve was going to propose."

"Bummer. Now, I don't remember you giving me an answer…"

She flew over his head and tackled a man to the ground before returning to his side. She sounded breathless yes. "Yes."

"Alright! I would totally kiss you right now if, you know, you were actually here."

"And we weren't fighting to save our friends."

"Right. That too."

Back inside the compound, Steve and Tania continued running for what felt like forever, but they had to be stopped. That had to mean something good, right? It seemed that the more they ran, the less and less people tried to stop them. Maybe they had taken them all out already? Unlikely.

Steve kicked open a door to find what looked like a control room. Well, it wasn't an exit but there were counter to ceiling glass windows. That was something right? It was pitch black outside with stars shining in the sky and that was all Steve and Tania could see. But they could hear what sounded like a war going on outside. They didn't get any time to question it though because in this room, stood Dominik Schmidt and about seven henchmen armed to the tee.

Up in the quinjet, Bruce and Maria sat in the back while a couple of SHIELD agents drove the plane. Bruce was fidgeting nervously. "Should I go down there?"

Hill shrugged. "Looks like something the Hulk could be useful for. Why not?"

"I don't want to hurt Tania or Steve."

"Do you want to help?"

"Yes."

She stared at him for a long time. "Really?"

"Yes."

In a millisecond, she had the hatchback door open and she shoved him out of the plane. "You'll thank me later!" she called to him as he began hulking out mid-fall. She sighed. It was protocol to have to follow him (one agent keeps an eye on the Hulk at all costs). She jumped after him.

Neo Red Skull just laughed. "Did you honestly think you could break out of here?" He stepped closed to Steve and Tania, who had huddled a little closer together and shut the door behind them.

"Yes," Steve answered truthfully.

"Good luck with that."

All the henchman attacked at once. Tania kicked the first man in the face before palm striking another (it hurt her hand a lot less than punching someone did, even if it was less effective). She spun around and kicked another one before linking both arms with Steve's back to back. He lifted her off the ground and she kicked both assailants away with each leg before she rolled off his back and to the side, ducking under a kick aimed her way and bringing her fist up to meet someone's crotch (ew!). The guy mewled and fell over while she used the dashboard of the control room as a step ladder and spun around on her heel, kicking three men in quick succession more making her way back to Steve.

The Captain wasn't used to fighting with his shield, but he had done it several times and this was no different. That didn't make him miss it any less. He rammed the butt of his newly acquired gun into someone's temple before shooting another one between the eyes. He grabbed the front of one man's shirt and launched him into two more behind him.

That was when Tania slid between his legs and kicked the feet of a man who had snuck up on him, knocking the guy to the floor. He grabbed her hand and spun her around while she kicked out her legs at their opponents before pulling her to her feet and socking one man in the jaw.

It was like their fighting revolved around each other. Every move they made had to reflect the other person otherwise it would become too chaotic to follow. It was teamwork, and that was what them this much more successful. Last time, they hadn't thought of each other as a team trying to win, they had just been running and shooting and holding each other back. But now they were going all out and they were doing an almost flawless job.

Until one man got a punch to Steve's gut – right where the bullet wound was. He was momentarily out of breath and it was enough for someone to shove him forward on his stomach, right in front of a pair of feet. He looked up. Schmidt grinned back at him with a knife long enough to be a sword in his hands.

Tania finally dealt the final blow to the guard and grabbed his gun, turning around. The sound of her cocking it grabbed Schmidt's attention and he looked at her while she aimed at him, eyes narrowed.

"You wouldn't kill me," he crooned. "I've seen you with a weapon. You shoot walls and pretend you're strong when really-" Eleven gun shots went off. Neo Red Skull collapsed on the floor, dead.

"Like Hell I won't," she croaked, her voice raw and hoarse but not caring. The man who had put her through all this was dead. It was finally… in a sense… over.

She rushed over to help Steve to his feet. He coughed. "Should I be insulted that the first person you spoke to was him, not me?"

She laughed and threw her arms around him. "I love you! I love you, I love you, I love you!"

He squeezed her back. "I love you too." They were whole again.

The door burst open and twenty or so more guards began filing in. Stania broke apart. They were surrounded. Except… Tania grabbed his hand and jumped on the dashboard. He followed without a word. She rammed her shoulder into the glass and fell through, bringing him down with her.

Glass shattered and they had apparently been on the second floor because they were falling. But Tania didn't feel the fear that usually came with falling. She felt stronger than ever. She had gotten over her fear and spoken. She had killed the leader of HYDRA and saved Steve. What was there to fear in falling? Certainly not death. She'd died once. She could do it again. This was nothing in comparison to drowning. Nothing.

All this ran through her mind in a single second. She registered their clasped hands and the cold, January air. The air felt fresher outside. She could feel the coldness on her skin and she relished this feeling of being outside for the first time in a full week. And then suddenly everything was green and she had stopped falling and everything was firm but kind of squishy if you really thought about it.

She looked up. The Hulk stared back down at her and absolutely, positively beamed so hard that tears came pouring out of her eyes. "Bruce!" She cried. She had never been so happy to see the Other Guy. If he was here…

She turned around alongside Steve, who was sitting on Hulk's other palm, and gasped. War Machine and Rescue were fighting off henchmen near the gate. Iron Patriot and Thor were blasting enemies from above. Clint was firing arrows from the trees. Peter was swinging from the trees and battling minions. Natasha was locked in a showdown not too far away. Agent Hill was a little ways off in a battle of her own. They were all there.

Tania was full on crying with happiness. They had come to save them. They had found them. Steve had been right all along. The Avengers would have come to their rescue, break out or not.

Hulk set them down on their feet before turning and roaring at the henchmen that dared approach him. "Hulk, SMASH" he clasped his hands together and pounded the ground, causing the Earth to shake.

"Captain!" Thor called from above. He flew over them and dropped Steve's shield directly on target. He raised his right arm and his weapon of choice slid straight on.

"That's better," he said to himself.

"Tania!" She turned just in time to catch a gun thrown at her by Clint from above. She nodded her thanks and she and Steve joined in the fight. Just because they were free now, didn't mean they could just leave. This was a HYDRA compound that needed to be brought down. And the Avengers, now fully reunited and with some allies (namely Agent Hill, Iron Patriot, Spider-man, and Sonata) were the perfect people to do just that.

She and Steve fought as one. When she leaned backward to make a kick, he bent forward to throw his shield. When hid behind his shield, he pulled her with him. When there was someone between them, he was done for.

It only took a few minutes for the Avengers to realize that Steve and Tania couldn't hear them when they spoke through the comms. It looked like they would have to do things the old fashioned way. Natasha made her way over to them so that the three of them stood in a triangle, back to back to back.

"The Council's gonna blow this place in nine hours," she told them over the gunfire. "Think you can last that long?"

"I could do this all day," they both chorused.

Natasha smiled at them, a real, genuine smile. "Good to have you back."

A/N. Sorry it jumps so much between characters. That's just how I imagined it. And don't be upset that Steve was never going to propose, please! A Pepperony wedding will still be awesome! Even if it's not in this story xP