Disclaimer. I do not own anything except my original characters.

"Between you and the Cap over here I'm going to have scuff marks permanently embedded on my floors." Abby heard Sam's joke but continued to pace. Her mind was still processing everything Steve and Nat had told her. Hydra, masked assassins, her grandfather's accident…

"God, I need a drink." She muttered, taking a seat in the chair across from the other three. "This entire time, Hydras been here. My father, the Avengers, we all…" Abby stopped, feeling the urge to be sick increase the more she really thought about it. "We helped enable it."

"No one knew Abby. Hydra, they were smart, smarter than we ever gave them credit." Natasha said. Abby rubbed at her eyes, cursing when she felt her eyes water behind her lids.

"My grandparents, the car accident. It was all them?" She looked to Steve, seeing his body turn rigid at her words. She knew he had known her grandfather, had been close before he went into the ice.

"They sent the Soldier after him, made it look like an accident." Steve said quietly. Abby hung her head, really wishing Sam had alcohol in his fridge at the moment.

"Do we know what the hell Project Insight is really for?" She knew how devastated her father would be, to know a project he had helped with, one he thought would do the world some good, was spearheaded by Hydra all along. She had little knowledge on the project, but from what she could deduce, having it in Hydras hands would devastate the world.

"Not really. Zola wasn't too forthcoming before we were nearly blown up." Steve stood, moving to the kitchen table were some files were strewn out. Abby had gotten a glance, catching design schematics for some type of mechanical suit. "We need to get to Sitwell, get the info out of him and then stop whatever they have planned."

"Any chances of us being able to call in Iron dad?" Natasha questioned, looking over to Abby. Shaking her head, she sighed.

"My dad and Pepper are somewhere in Yellowstone camping, no tech whatsoever. Don't think I'd get too far in flying out to them if I wanted to either. Think S.H.I.E.L.D. knows I went AWOL."

"I don't want to involve him if we can help it. Tony, he took a step back for a good reason. I don't want to pull him back in." Steve said quietly, looking over at Abby. She stood to her feet, moving to pull her hair up into a ponytail.

"Well you got me then. What's the plan? I got some background training and I could possibly grab my taser if-"

"You're staying here Abby." She paused at Steve's words, looking at him as if he had grown three heads. Before she could even refute his argument, he continued. "As much as I know your capable, we don't know what we're heading into, especially concerning this Winter Soldier. I'm not putting you in harm's way."

"Steve's right." Abby turned to Natasha, hoping the redhead would have been on her side but seeing the same steely look as Steve's, knew she was not. "Besides we need you and that big brain and hacking skills you got. We got to get into Fort Meade to get Wilsons flight suit. Think you could help us out, disable a few cameras." Natasha raised an eyebrow, a challenging smile pulling at her lips. Abby knew exactly what she was doing and god if it wasn't working.

Rolling her eyes, she nodded. "I can possibly do it. Feel like I could be more helpful though." She grumbled. Steve moved over, gently gripping her shoulder.

"I need my best girl here keeping an eye out for us. You're the only other person right now we can trust." The term of endearment finally broke through Abby. Shaking her head, she let out a puff of breath, grabbing her bag were her laptop inside.

"Alright let's get started."


Honestly, she had hoped for more of a challenge with Fort Meade. It had been a walk in the park hacking into their servers unnoticed. Switching the camera feeds to a loop gave the trio enough time to get in and get out with the EXO-7 with little to no trouble (sure Natasha did have to knock out a few guards, but they would live, at least Abby hoped).

"Nice work Abbs. We're going after Sitwell now. If anything comes up will call, keep the phone by you and keep the house locked." Abby sighed, laying her head back against the back of the couch, her laptop perched on her lap.

"Will do chorus girl." She smirked when she heard the telltale sign of snickering from the other end, knowing both Sam and Natasha heard the little nickname.

"Funny Stark." Steve said sarcastically before hanging up.

Abby was getting restless. She watched as the time slowly ticked by, her eyes going to the phone every few moments, waiting for it to ring, for anything to happen really. She hated being in the dark, not able to help. She felt utterly useless and powerless.

When nearly two hours passed with no word she had enough. Reaching for the phone she paused at the sound of car doors opening. Quickly moving to one of the front windows, she carefully peeked through one of the blinds. What greeted her had her heart dropping into her stomach. STRIKE agents pilled out of two SUVs, their guns trained and ready as they moved up the driveway.

Acting on pure adrenaline, Abby ran from the front hall, quickly grabbing the gun sitting on the coffee table Nat had left her in case of an emergency. Her hand was on the handle of the back door when she heard the front door give way, the sound echoing through the house as she bolted out the door. She hadn't made it three steps before a gun was trained between her eyes.

"Hi their sweetheart. You know this wasn't how I wanted our first date to start out." Brock Rumlows smug smile stared back at her. Her hand itched by her side were the gun lay, freezing when she heard the cock of his gun. "Oh, baby bad idea. I'd hate to mess up that pretty face, I quite like it." Her brain ran through all her firearms training, both from her father and Natasha. She knew by the time she even thought of raising the gun, her blood would be staining the concrete. With great difficulty, she let the gun drop from her hand, the metal giving a resounding clank as it met the ground.

Brocks smirk grew before he moved. Abby felt the breath leave her as she felt her body slammed to the ground, feeling cold metal wrap around her wrists before tightening. "Good girl." He whispered before hauling her back to her feet. The back door opened, two more members of his team stepping out.

"Checked the house, no sign of them." One man said. Abby glanced between them, confusion crossing her face. They were looking for people, most likely Steve and the others. What the hell had happened after they got the suit?

Abby was brought from her thoughts by a hand at her throat, before her back met the wall of the house. Brock stared at her, Abby staring back, hoping she looked as brave as she hoped she felt. "Alright cupcake you're going to tell us where Cap and the others are." So, she was right. Whatever had happened, they had gotten away. They wouldn't be here banging down doors if they still had them. Not liking her silence, he forced her head back, the back knocking into the plaster of the wall, making her wince and see stars for a moment.

"I... I don't know. Even...if I did, I wouldn't tell you douche bag." she gritted out. A part of her knew antagonizing a man holding her by the neck wasn't the smartest move but, in that moment, it was getting drowned out by the adrenaline still pumping through her.

"I don't think she knows Rumlow, let's just kill her and get back to base." The man to his left said, pulling out his gun as if to emphasize his point.

Brock turned back to Abby, smirking as he did so. "Nah were taking Miss Stark back with us. Could be of use." Before she could do anything, Rumlows fist slammed into her face. Her body crumbled to the floor before she succumbed to darkness.