The tower was eerily silent despite the amount of Avengers currently occupying its halls. Honestly, it was beginning to irritate Tony, who was so accustomed to the hustle and bustle that occurred when sharing a building with his teammates. Even Thor was dangerously quiet, brought down with the weight of the situation.
"Is there a way where we scour the Earth until we find our friend?" As if summoned by Tony's thoughts, Thor spoke into the silence as they stared up at the projected screen.
All of the avengers were crowded in the same room, trying to evaluate the situation and locate Steve. Tony had FRIDAY scouring every contact possible, but Hydra weren't joking when they made themselves untraceable.
"Trust me, I would love to, big guy." Clint answered for him. He was perched on the armrest, sharpening an arrow. "But I doubt they're gonna have a building all ready and waiting for us. As soon as we approach, they'll know."
"And kill him." Natasha said quietly. The assassin was resting against a wall, distancing herself from the others as she often did in stressful situations.
"I cannot allow that to happen." Thor said solemnly.
"We're not going to." Tony muttered. He flicked through the data again, but there really wasn't much to go off. No cameras, no sightings, nothing.
It had already been almost two weeks. Two weeks. Tony had barely slept since the first day. No one else had, either.
One question was still bugging him, something that was pulling at his brain.
"How did they know about the tracker?" Tony murmured to himself. He looked away from the screen, staring down at his hands. He absentmindedly counted the creases and callouses decorating each finger.
You're getting old, Stark. Tony frowned. Too old to keep your friends safe.
"They managed to find mine when I was being hunted a year ago, remember?" Clint pointed out. Tony did, but he also remembered what he did afterward.
"I know, but I stepped it up since then. They barely give any indication that they are there." He answered, almost irritably.
Sam entered the room soon after the exchange, carrying several drinks of coffee. He set them down on the table slowly before rubbing his eyes.
"Still got nothing, right?" He asked, collapsing beside Clint. He sipped his drink, giving a low hum.
"What if it was an inside job?" Bucky said softly, though his voice was laced with anger. Tony looked up, sighing.
"Already thought of that. Trust me, too many psychos have already tried to get under my nose, and boy do they stink." The billionaire reassured. "I've already questioned and investigated all staff involved in the process – which weren't many at all, by the way – and they're clean."
"I helped." Natasha spoke. She was twisting a knife in her hand, it's light dancing across her face. "No one gets past me."
"They were saying they were guilty just so she would leave them alone." Tony added, looking up at Barnes. "Trust me, they're safe. On temporary leave anyway, just to be sure."
"But all we've been doing is standing around at this damn screen for a week." Sam pointed out.
"I know –"
"With no progress."
"I know!" Tony raised his hands in the air, then slammed them back on the table. "I get it!"
"No one's blaming you, Tony." Bruce said gently. Somehow, he had managed to stay calm throughout this entire ordeal.
Tony stayed silent, thinking. His eyes were drawn to the number that was flashing before them mockingly.
"We should do it."
"What? Call them?" Natasha hissed, whilst Clint gave a loud "No!".
"It's our only shot!" Tony defended.
"Yeah, doesn't make it a good one!" Sam argued back. "I've seen shit like this happen, and it's all just a trap –"
"What else are we supposed to do? Wait?!" Tony demanded. He received no answer.
"Look, Steve could be – he could be dying, for all we know, and we are just staring at a screen and coming up with ideas with no solutions!" He burst out. "I can't let that happen while –"
"I agree." Bruce said quietly from his seat at the table.
"Why?" Clint stared in disbelief.
"If we can keep them on the line for long enough, we might get a signal. Yes, it won't be a direct route to their location, but it will give us a clue, right?"
"We could still download voice files if that doesn't work, at least." Sam agreed, nodding his head.
"There's no way they haven't thought of this." Bucky warned from the corner. But Tony was already ringing the number, glancing at him briefly.
"Get this rigged up." He requested, nodding at Bruce. The call was suddenly through a large speaker, echoing through the room.
"Ah, good morning Avengers! Or is it afternoon! It's more like midday, I suppose." A voice, thick with German accent, drawled through the room. Bucky stood up instantly, muscles tense. Tony watched out of the corner of his eye as Natasha lay a hand on his shoulder, staring concernedly at his face.
"Cut the shit." Tony growled. He gave a nod at Bruce, who began rapidly typing on the laptop.
"Now now, don't be rude." The Hydra agent teased. "You phoned me, remember?"
"What are you doing with him?" Clint butted in before Tony could swallow his anger to reply. He gritted his teeth as the agent chuckled.
"He's alive." Was his short answer.
All of the Avengers were on their feet now, all expressing levels of anger. Only Bruce was somehow staying calm, eyes glued to the computer. The rapid sound of his typing was the only think keeping Tony from blasting the speakers to pieces.
"I called to make the deal." Tony said, taking a deep breath.
"Oh?"
"Tell me what weapons you need, and I'll hand them over." Tony let his business façade slip on quickly, pushing back his emotions. This wasn't Iron Man talking – this was Tony Stark, businessman, billionaire. He even threw out his hands out of habit, then clapped them firmly. "I just want our Captain, that's all."
"Is that so?" The Hydra agent suddenly gave a loud sigh, almost mocking. "Is that why you are trying to trace me right now, hmm?"
Tony froze, eyes widening. Bruce paused from his work, snapping his head up.
"Look, I'm going to ask you once." Bucky stepped forward with a growl. His eyes were hardened with a cold anger that honestly frightened him.
Heck, this was worse than the Winter Soldier himself staring down at him. This was a pissed off Bucky Barnes.
"Give. Steve. Back." He hissed. He glared at the speaker as he spoke, clenching his metal fist. But the Hydra agent only laughed.
"I can't do that, you see – how could I possibly give him to you right now, through this phone?" He replied infuriatingly patronising. "But…I think I can arrange something, yes?"
The line suddenly crackled, before the audio changed to something much more disturbing.
There was a low wail, almost inhuman, being picked up by the speaker, followed by loud and tortuous screams. They kept going, only growing in volume. Tony was visibly knocked down by the awful noise, his legs crumbling under him. His knees stung as they hit the carpet, but the pain didn't register to him.
The screams were going to haunt him for many nights, he knew. The pain- filled cries were going to keep him awake for weeks, months, years to come.
Because he knew who they were coming from, knew the man that was currently so terrified he couldn't speak. This was Steve Rogers, his colleague – heck, one of his best and unlikely friends wailing like a wounded animal.
"You BASTARD!" Bucky yelled, slamming his fist against the wall. Tony could see tears glistening in his eyes. He heard a low moan from Clint, a sharp intake of breath from Natasha. Bruce had left the room entirely, while Sam was muttering every death threat possible. Thor was dangerously silent, only the crackle of electricity being heard.
"What are you doing to him?! WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING TO HIM?!" Bucky was yelling. The Hydra agent only laughed.
"He is doing it to himself, nothing to do with me." he replied easily. "Now, I really must get going."
The called ended with a click, leaving the Avengers in silence.
"I vow to drag him down to Niflheim with my bare hands." Thor slammed his hammer to the ground. "Though it will be a mercy after I unleash my wrath upon him."
"I – I don't…" Tony murmured, shaking his head. He couldn't fully articulate his thoughts, they way he desperately wanted to give all of his weapons to Nazis in a second if it meant saving Steve – but he couldn't, he knew he couldn't. He had learnt the hard way that his weapons should never be sold to anyone.
"They'll destroy everything." Natasha said, reading his thoughts. She took a long breath, wrapping her arms around herself. "We can't. "
"What can we do?" Bucky muttered. He began to pace as he waved his hands in the air in frustration.
"James –"
"I know these people…I know what they do…I've seen it - I've done it!" Bucky suddenly stopped, staring up at them with tears glistening in his eyes. "But I've never heard anyone…anyone scream like that. No one."
The words hung heavy in the air for a few minutes. The clocked ticked rhythmically on the wall, a steady beat in Tony's mind.
"Did we get anything, FRIDAY?" Tony asked quietly. The AI paused.
"I have gathered the audio from the call, but otherwise could not gather any information." FRIDAY informed. "Shall I run a record scan to see whether security has record of a matching voice?"
"Sure." Tony murmured.
"Sir, I have found a match." The AI said after a few minutes of more silence. Tony looked up sharply, standing up.
"What?" He breathed.
"Who?" Clint asked sharply. He was already pulling his bow over his shoulder, grabbing the arrows. "Give me a name."
"No name is recorded in Stark Tower staff records, but approximately two months ago there was a recording that matches the voice."
Wordlessly, FRIDAY began to show footage on the screen. Tony watched it carefully with narrowed eyes.
It wasn't actually in the tower itself, but in one of the warehouses underneath the main structure. He watched as the garage doors opened, two vans pulling through.
"Official transporters. Private service." Tony explained. He had used them a few times before, always cleared as they were officially SHIELD staff. "They were needed to safely transport some old stuff that we used to the secondary quarters." He watched as the staff came out of the vans, beginning to take the items. He spotted a few prototype bows, and a few old Captain America –
"Suits!" Tony suddenly yelled, making the others around him jump. "That's how they must've known where the tracker was in Cap's suit, they –"
" – had access to one of their own!" Clint finished.
"Shh!" Natasha quietened them as the men began to talk.
"That's it. Ready to go." Tony recognised the voice as the same one on the call almost immediately, despite the fake American accent placed over it. "This is all we need."
The other members quickly moved back into the van, pulling out of the parking area.
"That's why they aren't registered in Stark Industries." Bruce, who had finally calmed himself down, muttered with a thoughtful scowl. "They were never officially listed."
"FRIDAY, can you hack into every speed camera you can and find out where the fuck those vans went." Tony asked. The AI was quick to respond.
"I already did as you were watching the clip. The trail follows all the way to a small docking area, where they seemed to have taken a boat."
"What were the boats being taken out that day, where were they going?" Natasha asked quickly. The AI paused as they waited in tense silence.
"Here is a list of all trips that day." The screen flickered, showing a long list of locations on screen along with their locations on the map.
"That's way too many." Sam murmured as the writing scrolled downwards. "Trying to find a needle in a haystack."
However, Tony dismissed Sam's words as he spotted Bucky go pale beside him. He was staring up at the locations, his eyes locked onto one in particular.
"What's up, Frosty?" Tony asked. Bucky didn't even acknowledge the nickname, only pointed up slowly at the screen.
"Die Höllenlabore…" the Solider whispered, frozen still.
"What?"
"That's where they would threaten to take me…when I got too disobedient…they…" Bucky's eyes narrowed. "I'm going to kill them. Every last one."
"You and me both." Clint muttered darkly.
"So you're saying that's where they're holding Steve?" Sam asked. Bucky nodded, not taking his eyes off the screen.
"I'm certain. This isn't coincidence."
"Alright." Tony sprang up, calling his own suit. It folded around his limbs, before the helmet covered his face entirely. "Quinjet in five."
Tony let his repulsers light up as his team stood deadly serious around him. They all wore expressions of anger and bloodlust, and Tony was sure he looked the same.
"Let's go fuck this shit up."