Steve woke up feeling like he'd drank too much of Thor's Asgardian wine. There was a heavy fog around him and a pounding in his head that just wouldn't quit. His body felt like lead, his limbs too heavy to even lift. He tried once or twice, but each attempt proved fruitless. It wasn't until his third try that he realized why. His arms and legs were strapped down to some type of table he was securely fastened upright to. The attempt at escape had adrenaline starting to pump through his veins, increasing his heart rate and helping to lift some of the fog around him. As he became more aware, he took stock of his surroundings.
There were wires attached to pads placed on his bare chest, as well as some strange, itchy device on his head. When he looked to the side, Steve could see screens and monitors beside him, reading off his heart rate, blood pressure, and other things he didn't recognize. The room itself was small. The walls and floor were bare. There was one door, and no windows, but Steve got the distinct feeling he was being watched. He stopped struggling for the time being and tried to remember how he'd gotten here.
He remembered scaling the London Eye, jumping onto the helicopter and then… not much else. Garrett had been there. He did remember that. Steve got the vague sensation that the man had been waiting for him. Expecting him, even. He must have hit Steve with some type of sedative, because everything was nothing but darkness after that. Now, he had no idea where he was or how much time had passed. His mind went to Natasha. Did she make it off the Ferris wheel? Where was she? Was she okay? The not knowing gripped at Steve's stomach and twisted his guts. He had to get out of here. He had to find her.
But first, he had to find out what Garrett was planning.
"I know someone's out there!" He called out. There was no way Garrett wouldn't have someone watching him. "I'm awake now, so… you might as well tell me what this is all about."
Steve kept his voice calm; maybe even a little bored. He had this remarkable ability to seem unphased by mostly anything. Most bad guys found it pretty annoying, and Steve thought that was just great. What wasn't great was the fact that his restraints still weren't budging. They must have been made of something pretty strong if they could hold Steve and all of his enhanced strength. Either that, or Garrett had dosed him with something a lot more potent than he thought. Regardless, it wasn't an ideal situation. After a few moments, the door opened.
Garrett walked into the room, followed by the leather-clad Lady Dust, herself. The latter was wearing a pretty smug look on her face as she came to a stop and folded her arms across her chest. Garrett was a hard read thanks to all that metal in his face. His scarred and stretched skin gave him something of a permanent sneer, and the flesh around his right eye was equally distorted. His metallic arms rested calmly at his sides. His face twitched in what Steve was pretty sure was a genuine smile.
"Good morning, Captain." Garrett said. "Glad to see you're finally awake. It's been, what?" he glanced at Lady Dust. "Two days?"
Dust nodded, and Garrett returned his gaze to Steve. "I was starting to think I might have put a little too much sedative in that cocktail I gave you."
Two days? Steve tried to keep his face calm in response to that news, but Garrett must have caught the little twitch in his brows, because the man was chuckling. Steve forced himself to ignore Garrett's smug attitude and the tiny bit of nervousness bubbling in his own chest.
"What'd you do with Natasha?" He asked instead.
"Nothing." Lady Dust said in her best Frank N. Furter impression. "Why? Do you think I should?"
Steve ignored her and focused on Garrett. "Where is she?"
Garrett shrugged. "Not sure," he said. "She wasn't my concern at the time.
That brought Steve some relief, though not much. Natasha might have been safe, but Garrett might have been bluffing. Regardless, if she wasn't his concern, then what was?
"What do you want, Garrett?"
"Just your patience." Garrett replied. "I've gotten all the samples I need from you, but it turns out rewiring the brain isn't as quick a process as I thought."
"What are you talking about?"
Garrett shrugged. "Why just make copies when I can have the original, too?" He nodded to Lady Dust, and she casually walked over to the monitors that Steve was hooked up to. He watched as she started pressing buttons and turning dials.
"You aren't just going to help me make perfect soldiers, Captain," Garrett said. "You're going to help me lead them. We'll keep everything we need in that brain of yours, throw away everything we don't, and when all is said and done, we're going to burn S.H.I.E.L.D. to the ground. And if there's anyone stupid enough to get in my way after that, we'll burn them, too."
A wave of anger and panic brought a newfound surge of strength through Steve. It had him pulling against his restraints once more. The veins in his arms and neck began to bulge as he gritted his teeth and fought to free himself.
"You're crazy, Garrett!" Steve said, losing some of that calm from before. "This is never going to work!"
He could feel the metal bindings around his arms start to creak, threatening to give way. Garrett nodded to Lady Dust once more. She smiled and pressed a button.
A high-pitched ringing sounded in Steve's ears. Then, there was pain. His head felt like it was being split apart at the seams. Steve squeezed his eyes shut and gritted his teeth. He tried to fight the pain, but it was no use. Whatever Dust had done wiped all the fight right out of him. His body went limp against his restraints. Garrett and Dust smiled and left him, screaming, in the room.
…
Natasha came to a breathless halt at the site of the helicopter crash. There was smoke, fire, and charred metal as the aircraft sat, half-submerged in the river. Nat's heart hammered in her chest, her stomach did flips, and an indescribable panic gripped her throat. She stood frozen in place for two seconds too long, too afraid to move. She could hear the increasing volume of the approaching sirens, though, and she knew she had to be gone before they got here. So, she swallowed her nerves and ran the rest of the way to the helicopter.
The pilot was slumped over the control console, his helmet obscuring most of his face. Natasha checked for a pulse and found none. Beyond that, there was… nothing. There was no one in the helicopter, nor any evidence that anyone had been there to begin with. She looked all around but could find no signs that anyone had left the crash site. There were no mercenaries. There was no Garrett, but most importantly… there was no Steve.
A mix of relief and worry washed over Natasha. If Steve wasn't with the helicopter when it went down, it meant he could still be out there somewhere, safe. But where? Natasha left the scene and tried to retrace the path the helicopter had taken before it went down. Maybe they'd jumped out somewhere beforehand. Maybe someone had seen something. Natasha walked every possible square inch she could think of in search of Steve or any sign that might lead her to him.
That had been two days ago.
Now, all Natasha had for her efforts were sleepless nights and more worry than she ever thought possible. There was no sign of Steve, or Garrett for that matter, and she was beginning to fear the worst. Natasha had, of course, called on Sam for help. He'd scoured the skies and searched all of London in an attempt to find Steve. Like Natasha, he'd come up with nothing. He didn't seem as discouraged, though.
"We're gonna find him, Nat." Sam told her, his hand on her shoulder. "Steve's a hard man to kill, and if… if Garrett somehow managed that, we'd know about it. He wouldn't keep something like that to himself."
Natasha's stoic face was a poor depiction of the fear she felt inside. She kept her jaw firmly clamped as she stared off into space, her arms folded across her chest. She hoped that Sam was right, but she worried that he wasn't. There had been no threats, no gloats; no demands from Garrett. He'd gone completely silent, which, after the stunt he pulled in London, was pretty troubling. He'd made a lot of noise at the Ferris wheel. For him to follow that up with nothing was… pretty disconcerting.
"We need Vision's help." She said after a few moments. She turned her green eyes to Sam. "Steve's phone was the only thing that could lead me to him." And she'd found that busted to pieces in some random side street.
"There has to be some other way to track him." If there was, Vision would know.
Vision and Wanda met them outside of London the next night. Natasha almost couldn't believe her eyes when she saw Wanda accompanied by a tall, blonde… man. Yet, the second he spoke, she knew it to be the floating, red-skinned A.I. they all knew and loved.
"Wanda has suggested I take measures to better… acclimate with my surroundings." Vision explained. "We found this form most acceptable." He held his arms out to his sides for a moment to allow them to get a better look. It was a solid disguise. Natasha would say that he had acclimated quite well. Wanda's appreciative smile seemed to suggest she thought the same thing.
The look fell, though, when she returned her gaze to Natasha. "Viz told me about Steve," she said with sadness in her tone. "I am so sorry. Have you heard anything?"
Natasha shook her head. "No," she said. "And I've exhausted every resource I have to look for him. I know we said we'd let you two stay off the radar, but…" her voice trailed off.
Wanda placed a hand Natasha's arm and gave it a gentle squeeze. "It's okay," she told her. "We must always look after each other first."
The four of them went to a small coffee shop that stayed open late. It was relatively empty when it came to patrons, but Natasha still found them a table tucked away in a back corner of the building. She pulled her laptop out of her bag and slid it across the table to Vision. She didn't know if he'd even need it, but she thought it best to at least present the opportunity. He did, in fact, open it and fire it up. There was no asking for passwords or WiFi codes. He didn't even touch the thing beyond opening it. His eyes roamed around the screen, and whatever he wanted to happen just… happened.
Natasha did her best to keep her nervous leg-bouncing to a minimum, but Sam was still questioning whether or not he should've gotten her decaf when he returned with coffees.
"When's the last time you slept?" He asked as he set the coffees down and then took a seat next to her. "Like, really slept. You look-"
"If you tell me I look like crap, I'm going to stick a spoon in your eye." She threatened.
Sam held his hands up in surrender. "I was just gonna say you look like you could use a break."
"Steve wouldn't rest if it were one of us," Nat said. "He didn't rest when it was Wanda. We don't have time for breaks." She reached forward and grabbed her coffee. "I'll sleep when he's back."
And they'd get him back, because Natasha didn't know what she'd do if they didn't.
Sam nodded his understanding and stirred some cream into his coffee. Vision's cup was left ignored. Wanda gripped hers gently between two hands, eyes glancing over to the computer screen every so often. Vision had gone quiet, and they thought it was best to just let him work, but the curiosity among them was palpable. Natasha wondered what he was looking through; what databases he'd cracked into and was perusing. She wondered what he was looking for, as well. What would Vision think of that Natasha had failed to? The possibilities seemed sort of endless.
"Hm…" Vision said. It was pretty much the universal sound for "I've found something".
Natasha looked up from her coffee. "What is it?"
"There seem to be some strange anomalies on the power grid near Rochester." Vision said.
"Rochester?" Sam said. "We're talking Rochester, England, right?"
Natasha gave him a look.
"Well, I don't know!" He said. "It's been two days. Garrett could've gotten Steve halfway across China for all we know! Is it so hard to believe he could make his way to New York?"
It was a good point, but Natasha refused to indulge it. Instead, she looked back to Vision who confirmed that it was indeed Rochester, England, he was talking about.
"It seems there have been some small alterations to adjust power flow." Vision said.
Natasha and Sam both moved around the table to stand behind him and look at the computer screen. A grid of the city showed yellow lines indicating electricity flow. Small circuits appeared to have been siphoned off their main courses and directed elsewhere. It clearly wasn't enough to raise the suspicion of local authorities, but that seemed too purposeful to be a coincidence.
"Where is it all running to?" Nat asked.
The grid became quickly overlaid with a satellite image of the city. The other power lines disappeared, only showing the ones of interest. They mapped back toward a central location that Vision zoomed in on. A few more screens popped up on the monitor. Search results, old websites and digital archives showed the location to be a veterinary clinic that had closed permanently a while back. All utilities had been shut off to the place. It shouldn't have been receiving any power at all, so the fact it was getting this much was definitely suspicious. Suspicious, but it didn't quite make sense.
"Why would Garrett need that much power?" Wanda wondered aloud.
"Maybe our friend Lady Dust is opening up a new kink shop," Sam said.
Natasha gave him another look. "You really want me to shove that spoon in your eye, don't you?"
Sam shrugged, arms folded across his chest. "My next was going to be robot army, so…"
Nat shook her head and returned her attention to the computer. She tapped her fingers against the outside of her hips as she thought. The space wasn't big enough for Garrett to be building or assembling anything. At least, she didn't assume so. There was a possibility there was some underground space they weren't accounting for, but it didn't seem likely. Still, if Garrett was there, there had to be a reason for it. There had to be a reason he'd chosen that location. Natasha was starting to think that the man didn't do anything without some sort of plan or reasoning behind it. He was ex-S.H.I.E.L.D., after all.
"Alright," she finally said. She looked to Sam. "We can check it out."
"We'll go with you," Wanda said.
Natasha looked down to her friend. "You guys have already done enough," she told her. "I don't want to risk exposing you to that nut job again."
"There is a very high possibility that John Garrett has reinforcements," Vision said. "It would be unwise for you and Sam to attempt this rescue alone. Probability of success would be astoundingly low." He glanced at Wanda and gave a nod. "Wanda and I will accompany you."
Natasha pressed her lips together and narrowed her eyes at them for a second. It seemed pointless to try and argue with someone who was leaps and bounds smarter than she was. Still, that didn't mean she couldn't at least look like she was going to argue. Ultimately, however, she just took a deep breath and released it with a sigh and a nod.
"Okay," she said. "But this means we act now." She glanced down at the watch on her wrist. "We still have plenty of night ahead of us. We take enough time to get suited up, and then we head out."
Steve needed them, and they couldn't wait any longer.
No one argued.
They left the coffee shop a few minutes later. There wasn't much "suiting up" that Wanda or Vision needed to do, so they simply followed Sam and Natasha to the vehicle they had parked a mile or so away. It was an outdated panel van. Not exactly the flashiest car Natasha had ever driven, but it worked just fine when it came to storing all of her and Sam's gear. Wanda sat on the front bumper while Vision allowed his disguise to fall away. Natasha circled around to the back of the van, where she opened the doors and swapped her computer bag for a duffel bag with her gear. Sam grabbed his bag and walked a few steps away. He needed a bit more room to suit up than Nat did.
She slid into her protective vest and then worked on strapping her Widow's Bite gauntlets to her wrists. The methodical work of putting on her gear usually felt like a comfort to her. It was something she could focus on and allow the rest of the world to slowly drown out. Tonight, though, there was no drowning out her fears. Each bullet, blade and tool she owned reminded her of who she'd have to put them in to get to Steve. Each zipper she zipped and belt she buckled were all that stood between her and whatever mercenary or mastermind who wanted to bring her down. It didn't matter. Natasha would charge headfirst through an army of demons to protect those she loved. And, damn, did she love Steve.
There's a chance you might be in the wrong business, Romanoff… she thought dryly.
Natasha slid her batons into place at her back and rejoined the others at the front of the van.
"Alright," she said. "Let's finish this."
