A/N - Practically An Avenger and X-Men Over Avengers, loving the reviews - and I hope you don't mind me getting utterly SICK of the sweetness. It's been a long streak. Time to shake it up. To answer a few questions - I'm sure K dragging Logan was exactly as wonderful as you can imagine. He needs it sometimes and yes, Tony is a very useful and willing tool. No. you're not the only one amused at Scott turning the tables on James, though honestly, he's been keeping close tabs on those kids for so long, I don't know that it qualifies. And ... I'll leave Voj's Christmas gift to your imagination. Now ... I guess wishing magic does work sometimes, so here we go!

Chapter 93 - Valentine's Day

The first few weeks after school started up again after the holidays was a cold blur of snow, solitary time, and more snow. There had been a solid birthday weekend for Kate that involved all sorts of festivities that she insisted the whole world joined in on with fireworks and parties - no matter how much her siblings tried to say it was the whole New Year's Eve situation.

No one was really prepared for her decision to host a masquerade ball for her birthday - and had gone so far as to outfit everyone with masks on arrival. It was unexpected and creative and fun. And a little disorienting.

And there had been a small measure of drama when Corsair showed up two weeks after New Years looking to celebrate the holidays' with his family. That had resulted in the kids being quiet for a few days and Alex not so subtly giving him a calendar, complete with the holidays and birthdays marked.

But Billy was fully prepared for Valentine's Day. He had a plan in place- a quick dinner in Genosha. Nothing too exciting other than alone time, that is. He just had a few things to pick up ahead of the wish for extra impact.

So he made his way to Salem Center. He'd barely started shopping when he remembered something he'd missed in the last shop, and then turned almost directly into Vojteck. Billy took a step back, trying to get a little space and not surprised at all when Vojteck barely gave him that room - stepping closer as Billy backtracked.

"You lost or something?" Billy asked. "Because I didn't even know you were here in town."

"It's a nearly another American holiday, isn't it?" Vojteck asked. "I have things that must be done, too." He kept walking toward Billy, though it was pretty clear that Billy's spell to make sure Vojteck couldn't hurt him was working well enough.

And realizing that his spell was working, Billy stopped just to see how Vojteck would react. He could get into Billy's face, but he couldn't harm him. But almost as soon as Billy stood his ground, he heard a few rushing steps behind him. He turned just as someone snapped a collar shut around his neck.

Billy had never seen the guy before, but that didn't matter when he was reacting almost entirely on instinct, with a nearly-shouted "how dare you" and a right hook that the guy blocked and seemed amused by. Billy felt his face get redder. "Who the hell do you think you are?" he demanded.

"The back up," the new guy replied, then looked past Billy to Vojteck as he grabbed Billy's arm and twisted him around so he couldn't try to hit him again. "If you need anything else, I can just slap him around a little for you. Way he acts, I kinda want to." He didn't wait for Vojteck to say anything one way or the other though before he began to restrain Billy and maneuver him halfway down an alleyway out of sight while Vojteck leisurely started going through Billy's pockets.

Billy kept trying to squirm away, but the new guy had a tight hold of both of his arms, and his right arm was twisted up behind him in a way that made moving uncomfortable at best and painful at worst. "When I get my powers back," Billy started to say, but neither of his attackers were listening.

Vojteck had Billy's phone - and as Billy was sputtering, he unlocked it - having watched every move Billy had made for months, he knew the code. And that made it incredibly easy to send a text. "You won't be worrying about your powers or anything else for a while," Vojteck said in a thick accent.

"That's what you think," Billy said, still trying to twist free. He did manage to kick the new guy's knee, but that only resulted in the guy slamming him to the ground hard enough that Billy bit his tongue - and then swore when he realized the guy was handcuffing him. "Get off of me!"

"I wish I was surprised that I needed a gag," the guy said, putting a knee between Billy's shoulder blades just to make it hurt. "Is that how it works? Or do you usually wiggle your nose or something?"

"Who the hell are you anyway?" Billy grumbled.

The guy smiled as Vojteck casually walked off to get the car. "Why do you care?"

"I take it personally when people try to kidnap me," Billy said.

"I'm not trying," he said. "You're caught. Voj got rid of your trackers and as soon as we're done with the phone, that's going to be trashed too. But if you need formality, you'll figure it out soon enough."

"Who are you trying to bait in?" Billy asked, knowing that was one of the more likely scenarios for using his phone like that.

The guy grinned brightly. "Just someone in your top five."

"Pretty sure any one of them will wipe the floor with you, so I'm not sure why you're that into masochism, but to each his own…"

"One definitely can't," he said with a laugh as the car pulled up. "So. Get in quietly or you'll get in unconscious. Your call, your highness."

"Last chance to back out before my mom wipes you from existence if I can't," Billy said instead.

"Yeah, I'm not too worried about that," he said, grinning wider and shrugged. "Latveria is so … moody this time of year."

Billy's eyes went wide, and for the first time, he was more panicked than he was angry. "You're working with Doom? Are you serious? He'll blow up Genosha on a whim!"

"Me? No. But my boss is, and I don't like to argue with her."

"Look, I don't know what your game is, but Genosha isn't going to-"

"I don't care about Genosha or Latveria," he said. "Now shut up and get in the car or I'll knock you out and buy myself some silence."

Billy was still wide-eyed, though he did climb in - if for no other reason than he wanted desperately to know what was happening.

Meanwhile, Kate had been frustrated trying to avoid the reporters that had gotten way pushier seemingly the second she turned eighteen. She had been fine with the selfie requests and stuff - that was harmless - but the guys with microphones in her face asking who she was sleeping with on the team to get into a mutants-only team or the ones who were being blatantly racist and saying they were worried about her "safety"? Yeah, those were bloodsuckers that needed to drop dead.

She had finally gotten to her disguised car and into her inducer when she got a text from Billy and instantly panicked:

Having a total freak out and could use someone to talk me down. Things with James are … bad.

Kate swore under her breath. Knowing the two of them, that could mean anything from James having some kind of anxiety-driven train of thought after Genosha leading him to believe that he couldn't hack being the prince's boyfriend to Billy having a solid cry because James's stupid school obligations had ruined their Valentines plans for the next day. Either way, those two needed someone to step in before they imploded on each other. They worked, but they were both so stupid sometimes.

She shot a quick text to Nate to let him know she had to go help Billy with relationship advice and then floored it, glad for the excuse to speed.

But when she got to the ice cream shop where she and Billy liked to meet up, she didn't see hardly anyone there. Just some very off-brand, very serious looking adults, who were almost too invested in minding their own business. Which in itself was odd, because this was a busy time of day for them with teenagers.

"Billy?" Kate called out as she walked from one end of the shop to the other, one hand on her hip where she had her team comm. She did not like this setup.

To her surprise - and suspicion - Vojteck came out of the back from behind the counter, his eyes wide.

"Oh good, hello, Kate. I'm glad you're here. He is not acting o-kayl," Vojteck said, and Kate crossed her arms, her hip cocked to one side.

"No kidding," she said. "What, did you roofie him or something? Wouldn't put it past you."

Vojteck gave her a dry look. "I was coming here on my own to meet a friend. I did not expect to see him here after he was being so … dramatics all day."

"Dramatic how?" Kate said, not at all trusting the guy.

"Is Billy. Everything is dramatics."

"While that is true, you've been stalking him for months and not taking no for an answer, so you can see why I don't trust anything about this."

Vojteck looked like he was trying to find the right words, which was on par for him more often than not anyhow. "But I have stopped trying to get his attention so much after I see him with his boyfriend at morning - he is okay. Lunchtime? Not so much. Texting, texting, texting…. Needs vodka, I think. Something. No more coffee. I don't know what is texting over, but he is not okay."

Kate sighed and dragged a hand over her face. "Fine. Where is he?" she said.

Vojteck sighed and gestured toward the back room. "Is with nice waitress. She want to give him some privacy."

"Aww, Emma," Kate said in a sigh. "Alright, I'll take things from here."

"Yes. Thank you," Vojteck said, sure to stay back - at least until Kate stepped through the door. There was a split second between her crossing the threshold and when Vojteck moved. He wanted to give her just enough time to see what was back there before he attacked.

Kate stopped when she saw her favorite ice cream waitress tied up beside Billy, and she moved on instinct, whirling on Vojteck to kick him in the gut and make him stumble several steps back from her. Which was a good start - if not for the fact that her arms and legs felt heavy, and she was losing steam fast after that kick.

"Are you done now?" Vojteck asked as he stepped forward. He didn't wait for the drug to fully take effect before he rifled through her pockets with the help of a small device to look for trackers and beacons. He knew who her parents were, and he was sure they'd have a higher level of distrust for everyone. So he came prepared. Seven trackers, her panic button, and her phone were set to the side before he started restraining her.

"Hands off," Kate said, though her words were heavy in her mouth. She could talk, but it took some effort - and movement was out of the question when her arms and legs wouldn't cooperate.

Vojteck smirked. "No worries. I prefer blondes."

"Good. Now lemme go," Kate said, frustrated that she could do nothing but glare.

"I'm afraid that's not on the roster today," Vojteck said then whistled for his accomplice to gather up Billy. "We have places to be - sooner than later."

Kate was already glaring, but when she saw Daniel arrive, she swore outright. "You futzing little creep," she bit out through her teeth.

"That's no way to say hello, Kit-Kat," Daniel said as he pulled Billy upright, smiling wider at how angry she was. "It's been so long."

"Not long enough. Get your hands off my friend," Kate snapped.

"Sorry, Kit-Kat, I'm under orders." As Daniel spoke, Vojteck pulled Kate up, too. It was clear right off the bat that the two of them had their plans laid out.

"Orders, huh?" Kate narrowed her eyes. "Who's pulling the strings, huh? Bullseye?"

Daniel looked toward Vojteck and grinned broadly. "Ah, no. What do you say, boss?"

Kate glanced toward Vojteck, who was already holding himself differently and with more confidence. "So I was right about the roofies."

"No," Vojteck said. "I didn't drug your friend. Daniel collared him. However, if you are going to be obnoxious, I have something I can give you. Both of you."

"Leave Billy alone, you little freak," Kate said, her eyes narrowed.

There was only half a second between Kate getting wound up and Vojteck outright slapping her hard. "Watch your tone. You are in no position to make demands of me."

Kate worked her jaw as much as she could and then gave Vojteck a crooked grin. "Wow, the temper on you. Now I'm double glad Billy didn't fall for your act. Red flags everywhere with you."

"I was under the impression that you were clever," Vojteck said. "But for someone so clever, you still have no idea who you're dealing with. I wonder how long it will take you to figure it out."

"You mean besides the fact that you're teaming up with Daniel, who I already know was promised to Viper by his own mother?" Kate pointed out. "Which makes you, what, either a Strucker or a Shmidt, I'd say. Hard to tell when both possible dads are so u-gly."

Vojteck smirked. "More clever than I thought," he admitted. "Which do you think fits better? You could have figured it out had you looked at my name."

"Shmidt," Billy put in, breaking out of his furious silence at last. "You changed it to fit the home country you claimed, but it's still there."

"It's still my home country," Vojteck answered. "Mother was insistent that we spend time there."

Kate winced dramatically. "Ugh. Gimmie a minute to reconcile 'Viper' and 'Mom' because… ugh. You poor thing."

"He did say his mother was horrible," Billy stage whispered to her.

"Well that was our first clue," Kate said. "Silly us."

But Billy started to frown at that. "And … that his sister was the worst …."

Kate got it about the same time Billy did. "She's that little twerp that drugged James…"

"Just the once?" Vojteck asked with a smile that did not fit the situation. "I doubt that."

"And what does that make you - Igor?" Kate said, furious at the implication and lashing out the only way she knew how. "You definitely got your dad's looks."

"I never met the man," Vojteck said, then took a moment to pull out a syringe that was loaded up and ready to go. "I'm also not interested in what you have to say to me yet." He seemed totally unbothered as he jabbed her, even going so far as to smirk wider while he depressed the plunger - then tossed one to Daniel. "This will be easier if they're quiet. I'd like to get them in the air before my sister can get her job done. As nervous as she is, I wouldn't be surprised if she can't follow through."

Kate and Billy glanced at each other, but neither of them could do anything beyond that, slipping quickly into unconsciousness and panicking the whole way there.

In Massachusetts, James was incredibly distracted as he reworked an entire section of his last paper … the second one had been turned in just after New Years, and now he was putting all his focus on the last of the three. With a little luck, he'd be done with all of this nonsense by the end of February.

The trickiest part was the analysis, since the subject matter of all of his papers was far enough advanced that most of the staff had only read a few articles on the subjects at hand, so putting things into terms that made them relatable was rough. He couldn't dumb it down, and he couldn't dive right in to the overly technical areas without the proper footwork and taking the time to make sure it flowed, too.

He'd been there long enough that he didn't realize that he wasn't alone anymore - too involved in his work to even begin to care. Most of the students gave him a wide berth, or at least would remain quiet and stick to themselves if they got closer. The press had already gotten pictures of him studying, pictures of him working in various labs on campus, coming and going, and once, they got a photo of him smiling at his phone between classes … which set off a whole long week speculating who his sweetheart was … or sweethearts, taking into account the Stark connection. They fully expected him to be like Tony in that regard, after all.

And because it was the day before Valentine's … he really should have been paying closer attention to his surroundings. Especially when someone invaded his space, then reached up to pull his book away from him. He looked up, ready to get angry with whoever it was, but stopped, even as he took a hold of the book when he realized it was the girl that had been shamelessly flirting with him for months - smiling like a cheshire cat.

"Hello, handsome stranger," she said, and once again, James found himself at a loss for words. For a moment anyhow.

"Karina … what are you doing?"

She hummed impatiently. "First of all, it's Katarina." James cringed and sat back. Every time she spoke to him, he got her name wrong. "Secondly, you are in dire need of a study break," she said, still grinning as she shifted to walk around the table.

"Can't do it," James said, though he didn't move fast enough to pull his hand away when she rested hers on his wrist - and he found himself staring at her hand. He didn't have the urge to pull away or to tell her to stop and he didn't know why.

"Of course you can," she argued. "You can, you should, and you will. Come with me, James. We can get coffee. It won't take long."

James continued to stare at her hand for a moment, then looked up to meet her gaze. "I'm not stopping for coffee right now."

She frowned and took a slightly tighter grip on his hand, though she looked almost as if she was bracing herself. "Then some water." When he shook his head, her tone softened. "You've probably been in here since before noon. You need to hydrate, don't you?"

He narrowed his eyes and swallowed his growl back before it could erupt fully. She was irritating him on nearly a molecular level and he really didn't know why. "Fine," James said - hoping that the vending machine in the hall would be enough to get her to back off because there was no way in hell he was going to go with her for coffee. He got to his feet and she took his arm, one eyebrow raised in a challenge for him to pull away from her.

"What harm would it do for you to escort me?" she asked, almost stroking his arm, and James frowned slightly.

She wasn't wrong, but again, he was irritating her in a way he couldn't quite place and the combination of irritating and enticing was just … hard to wade through. He let out a sigh and looked toward the librarians - new people - who quickly waved him off - silently agreeing to watch over his things while he was gone.

They stood in the hall across from the beverage machine and James waited for her to try and sell him on something to do beyond what little he'd agreed to, but halfway through the bottle of water, James started to feel a little dizzy. He frowned and looked down at the water, focusing on the little droplets of condensation as he swallowed thickly. He turned his hand over, curiously staring at his palm and entirely missing the fact that Katarina hadn't said anything for the last minute or so.

"I was right. You do need some coffee," she said, then didn't wait for an answer before she took a hold of his wrist and started to pull him away. "I'll buy."

But the drug on his hands clearly wasn't having the same full effect as last time around because he planted his feet and stopped, nearly knocking her off balance in the process. "Did you…" he looked over at her, frowning deeply - and though he was incredibly dizzy, the sleepiness wasn't kicking in yet. His focus went from her almost hungry expression to the fact that she was holding his hand … that was covered in the now-activated drug. "Wait-"

There was an instant of realization - a moment where James started to pull it all together in spite of the mind fog that she should have been on the ground for that, and a split second later, Katarina made the decision to rush him and kissed him hard, cracking his head against the wall with the level of force she'd used to come at him.

At first, he didn't know how to stop her, and unfortunately, years of trying not to rock the boat when young women did exactly this kind of thing had him hesitating to react at all. Once he reminded himself to move, he tried to at least end the kiss if he couldn't get away from her, but she wasn't letting go of him. When he nearly managed to break loose and had gotten one of her hands off of him, he was pretty sure he was out of the woods. He shifted to put his hands at her upper arms so he could push her back - and she stabbed him in the backside. James let out a surprised sound, muddled with a 'stop' which gave her the chance to make the kiss a lot more substantial. He could taste a bitter, acrid something, and the moment he started to register what that was, she slid one hand onto the side of his neck, the other under his shirt, and barely broke the kiss to speak.

"What are you doing?" James asked at the same time Katarina spoke.

"Follow me," she said in a more commanding tone, then pressed in to kiss him again, smiling to herself when after a few seconds, he stopped fighting her and started to reciprocate. His hands slid from her arms to her waist to pull her closer, which made the whole fiasco easier on her. When the second kiss ended, he closed his eyes trying to concentrate before she took a hold of his wrist and started to lead him out. "Stay close."

James blinked a few times, but mindlessly did exactly as she said - completely forgetting where he was, what he was doing, or why he was following her. She had her own private route that avoided all of the press corps members that James had never seen and the whole while she was sure to keep a tight grip on him as if he would slip away the second she let go.

In under ten minutes, he was sitting in her car wondering why he was going with her, though clearly not yet with it enough to do anything about it. Before she started the engine as he began to look around, taking in their surroundings, she dug into her purse to retrieve a syringe. He turned her way as she pulled the cover off of the needle, frowning before she jammed it into his thigh and then rested her hand on his arm. "Kat-" James watched as the liquid drained into his muscle, but she cut him off.

"Lie down. Stay down," Katarina sang out nervously, and without asking his body to do so, James did exactly as she asked. She watched him for a long moment, hoping that he'd stop resisting her so much and worried the drugs would take him too far, or that she'd run out.

James drifted in and out of consciousness as they drove, though those moments were always accented by Katarina working out dosages before he was hit by the sharp bite of a needle in his leg when he seemed to be too aware, or worse yet - with it enough to try and question her. She was swearing under her breath before they could get to the airport, and finally, she let out a frustrated sound, reapplied her lipstick with shaking hands and parked her car before leaning over to kiss him again. His hand drifted up to push her away, but she managed to catch his wrist before he could make contact. The lipstick needed time to work fully, after all. And this time, James could hardly keep his eyes open as the kiss continued. He didn't feel the next poke, or notice how anxious she was as the last needle went in and she fumbled for the handcuffs she had in her glovebox.

The guards dragged Kate from the black panel van, where she briefly got a look at the massive, dirty cityscape around them … nothing there was familiar and everything was written in about six different languages, though Japanese looked to be the most prevalent. She wasn't sure where she was. At least, not until she saw someone trying to mug a cop, who turned and shot the would-be-thief in the street without blinking then casually turned away from him to continue … she didn't really get to see what he was doing, but it wasn't anything legal, she was obvious.

The men escorting her never let her feet touch the ground, not that it made a difference. The drugs they had her on left her limbs feeling heavy, and her focus wasn't quite where it should be, so whatever it was … the effects were fading.

The building they went into looked … well… it was absolutely posh inside. Everyone around her was in tuxedos and cocktail dresses … sparkling jewels adorned the women, greasy smiles on the men as they rubbed elbows and gambled while drinking and laughing. But for some reason, they didn't seem to think a thing about these creepy bodyguard types carrying a teenage girl through the crowd. And the men kept carrying her down one winding hall after another to the point that even if she hadn't been drugged, she still would have lost track of where they'd gone.

The casino like interior gave way to marble halls and smooth walls, where every footstep echoed like a tomb as Kate found herself more and more aware of her surroundings. The cheerful din of the betting floor gave way to near silence right about the time she started seeing green-clad guards rather than tuxedo'd ones.

And she still couldn't control her arms and legs and there was no sign of Billy anywhere.

The echoing sound of heels clicking on the marble floors caught her attention, particularly when she realized the woman at the center of the sound was being followed by no less than a half dozen soldiers, whose boots in unison couldn't hide the terrifying click-clack of those stilettos. Though her vision was still muddled, she was pretty sure that she recognized the woman's profile the instant she saw her.

Viper didn't say a word as she led the way, and the men kept silent in her wake, which was only that much more terrifying the instant Kate realized that she was being taken into Viper's lab. But she wasn't alone when she got there …

Two of four surgical tables were already occupied. The room was immaculate, cold, and lined with cabinets of medical supplies and … other devices. Before Kate could form the words to say .. anything, she found herself strapped down to the third table. She tried to fight her way out of it, but her arms and legs still weren't behaving right, and instead of the left hook she tried to land on the creep carrying her, all she managed was a somewhat loose fist as the man secured her wrist in a manacle. To her left, the empty table stood under a light that was turned off. To her right, was Billy, fully awake, incredibly pale, and obviously terrified. And across from Billy was James, not yet awake, but more tightly restrained than either Billy or Kate and oddly, there was a smudge of lipstick on his mouth.

Kate frowned when she saw the smear, knowing that was one of Vipers' favorite tricks, but the idea of her kissing James had Kate doing a full body shiver.

But that was also right about the time that Viper walked in the room - which had Kate doing a double take. She'd thought that Viper had led the way …

But no. The woman she thought to be Viper was younger and quietly gathering up supplies while the real Viper stood at the center of the lab, looking over the vital signs of each of the three young heroes. It was plain to see she was trying to decide where she wanted to start.

"So many wonderful choices," Viper purred. "And it's not even Mother's Day." She bit her lip as she slowly turned, taking in details on vital signs for each of the three restrained victims. Two of them she'd need to be fairly careful with … there was value in each of her playthings, after all. The girl would be a wonderful tool to force a few Avengers out of hiding that had been a thorn in Hydra's side for far too long. The young prince would be an inroad into pillaging Genosha and taking what she wanted there, though that would have to be carefully played, considering how dangerous the game she was playing with Doom was to keep Genosha's new queen out of the way. She smiled to herself as she considered the possibilities. If Dr. Doom had done his share - Wanda would be of no consequence. She could breathe easy knowing that the Scarlet Witch was no more dangerous than an angry kitten while in his care. That was all he wanted, too. Wanda to himself and Genosha available for Viper to pillage. Which left one more young victim in her lab.

Viper turned her full attention toward young James Howlett and absolutely couldn't stop her smile. There were simply so many places to begin. So many options, so much to be done ...she wanted to weigh it all out on where to start with him. Aside from the sheer amusement he was bound to bring her during their sessions in her lab, he was far more useful than he realized well beyond what she could do with his connections to Tony Stark. Old family influence from his father, the dreadful usefulness of a feral on a leash, not to mention the astronomical sum she could sell him for if she grew tired of the games … She could easily get lost in playing there, so she decided to try and focus elsewhere for the time being.

She made her way over to Billy first as she took a closer look at his vital signs, then paused to smile wickedly at him without comment. She hadn't had anyone to play with in far too long. At least, no one worth making it last. She'd just made up her mind on where to go and what to do first, though she simply didn't want to make anyone think they were getting off easy. "Miss Barton, if you were given the choice, who of the three of you should I introduce myself to properly last?"

Kate was honestly surprised at being addressed, let alone asked a question like that. But she'd also been raised by Hawkeye and her mouth was working fine, so in characteristic fashion, she didn't even think before responding. "Depends on if you're ramping up with each go, doesn't it?"

"What fun would it be to tell you first?" Viper laughed, then decided to take it slow with them. Build trust or something like it. "I thought I'd start with a simple blood draw, for simplicity's sake," Viper said, as she took out a kit. "It would be nice to know where you all are before I start adjusting things. But if you have something more interesting as an opener …I might be persuaded to take requests."

"Vodka, thanks."

But that only had Viper smiling wider. "Vojteck, you heard the girl. Get one for her best friend, too." She paused and smiled. "In fact, get one for all of us."

Billy looked like he couldn't believe anything that was happening as he ventured a quiet, "Oh, uh, I don't… drink…"

"You will today," Viper told him as she drew a few vials of his blood. "One way or another." She'd barely gotten her vials filled before she handed them off to Katarina, then turned her sights on Kate. "I have to admit, I'm curious on which of your guardians you take after most. And at what point each of you will break down and tell me what I want to know." She shook her head as she pressed down hard on Kate's arm - even if the feeling wasn't all there yet. "You've all led such interesting lives so far … and you each have so many wonderful connections." Viper came back to Kate after handing more vials off. "Connections like your teams, of course, your personal relationships, and oddly enough, old family ties that should have been severed if you wanted to avoid little mishaps like this."

Kate blinked at Viper and then, after a deep breath, shifted her expression to one much more calculated, the way her mother had taught her. "Typical," she said. "No imagination. It's all about bait and pressure with Hydra."

"Oh, my darling little hawk...this has little to do with Hydra," Viper almost whispered before she ran one hand through Kate's tangled hair. "I know what kind of stock you came from, little girl. As entertaining as it would be to pick your brain for the things that Hydra would want from you, I can get most, if not all of that from either of your little friends. I want my share."

"No."

"Obstinate. I'm still not sure if that's influenced by the Widow or Hawkeye. Or if it's ignorance." She shook her head, then made a point of letting Kate see the measure she was drawing up in the hypodermic needle. "I wonder how well they prepared you for this kind of discussion." She held Kate's arm still then slid it into the crook of her arm, smiling at her as she pressed down the plunger, but oddly enough, instead of a burning feeling in her veins or the kind of pain that she'd only read about in reports, she could suddenly move her arms and legs much easier than just a moment or two ago. "I don't want you to go through this not knowing everything that's about to happen."

She left Kate to consider what that might possibly mean before she made her way over to Billy to do more or less exactly the same thing - at least as far as the injection was concerned. She didn't bother telling him anything about what she wanted to know, not that he needed the primer. He couldn't think of any reason anyone would bother him unless it had to do with Genosha. Not when she'd already kidnapped two of his favorite people outside of the family and teamed up with Doom to neutralize his mother.

Behind her, Vojteck followed, assisting as her right hand man after having brought back several glasses and a bottle of vodka. At her direction, he began putting IV's into each of their arms and ignoring anything Kate or Billy had to say to him as he worked. And for a moment, the two friends had no idea why Viper was taking so much time before she started being herself. As soon as the IV's were in and working, Katarina came over to help too. She laid out the glasses and poured a measure for each of them. The three family members took a moment to face each other, smile grimly, then threw back their shots. Viper was pouring herself a fresh measure, watching her children team up to force Kate and Billy into taking the vodka Kate had suggested … even if she hadn't meant it at all.

But long before the vodka could start to have an effect, both of them were feeling dizzy, off balance, and not … right. Which was also right about the time that Katarina and Vojteck started asking both of them for information on how to get into the tower. Codes, security details, numbers of guards on duty, the entrances the Avengers used … all of the things that couldn't be seen from outside the building. Things that only other Avengers or those close to them would know.

And to Viper's delight, as she drank and tried to decide on where to even start with James, neither Kate nor Billy were budging on anything. Billy was dealing with the situation by trying to attempt a spell, just repeating, "silencesilencesilence" or "Iwishyourmouthwasgone" and other similar silencing spells, though Kate was somehow enacting a balancing act between what her mother and father would do, digging like Natasha would do - but with all her father's snark.

"...and besides," Kate said after the fifth question she refused to answer. "You're just the menial help, Vojteck. Go mix drinks for the patrons upstairs or something."

Vojteck's eyes flashed - especially when Katarina smirked - and he lashed out, backhanding Kate and leaving a hand-shaped imprint at her jawline. Again. "What makes you think that you an speak to me in such a manner?"

Kate worked her jaw but didn't drop his gaze. "Karma. And you're still second best. Hit me again. Won't change it. And you know it," she said, noting the satisfied way Katarina nodded to herself. Kate had been right; there was a massive power imbalance between the two of them. And Kate was more than happy to poke and prod at that particular open wound on even the off chance it got their captors more interested in each other than their captives. She'd managed to get out of a few tight spots with attention redirection before.

"I may not be able to hurt your little friend, but I can certainly hurt you," Vojteck said.

"Vojteck, sweetheart, don't let her focus you. Keep pushing," Viper directed, having decided how she wanted to approach her last victim, who was finally starting to stir. "One of them will crack." James was just coming out of the worst of the poison Katarina had dosed him with. And the first thing he heard was Viper trying to ask what the security protocols were for Tony's lab while she gently cleaned the lipstick off his face. It took him a moment to realize who she was, and had it not been for the smells floating in the air - antiseptic, heat, almonds, and something that just … made the back of his throat itch - he might have tried to answer in some capacity or another.

But instead, he frowned to himself. He was still in a haze as he tried to sit up and started to panic and wake up faster when he couldn't move. He blinked hard, the light shining into his eyes bright enough to be painful, when he managed to see a flash from a needle as Viper was pushing up his sleeve. "Make it easier on yourself," she said. "Tell me what I need and I won't hurt your friends."

James tried to turn his head enough to see what Viper was talking about, mostly ignoring her even as the needle went into his arm simply because he was focused on panicking, but as she gave him the injection and the effects started up almost immediately, he found himself trying not to react to the white-hot pain going up his arm. His hand clenched and he tried to force it to relax, shaking and trying to force down the panic. He tried to relax his muscles and keep his breathing slow, but it burned as it crept steadily up his arm. When it hit his chest, he knew he couldn't hold his reactions back much longer, though he tried as his hands were shaking in fists and Viper taunted him by gently petting his hair and telling him to let it out.

When he didn't start screaming like she wanted, Viper bit her bottom lip and ran one hand down the side of his face. "That's alright, my dear boy. I estimated but fell short of what you truly need. I'm sure we'll fine tune our adjustments as time goes on." He wasn't fighting her as she played with his hair - too concentrated on keeping from screaming while she played her games. "Now," she said softly. "Go ahead and fight it as long as you're able. Don't give in too quickly." His eyes were screwed shut as she stepped back and followed up with a second shot as if she could watch exactly how long it took for the poison to make it to the mark. But that got her what she was after - at least as far as James went. He tried to keep from making even a tiny noise, but it wasn't long before all he could sense was the burning in his veins, roasting his nerves from the inside out.

He wasn't talking, but he didn't realize that she really didn't care if he would talk or not. She wanted to get it from Kate or Billy, so she kept her focus on James, holding her breath - lips parted until he couldn't stop himself from screaming. Viper looked positively delighted, and even started consoling him as if she wasn't the cause of the pain - all while waiting for one of the others to fold.

Billy went pale when he heard how ragged James already sounded - but to his credit, he responded by switching the attempted spell to "leavehimalone" instead of a silencing spell. He was giving away how worried he was, obviously, but it was a means to express that worry without putting his home and family in jeopardy. He'd spent enough time with Erik drilling into his head how important Genosha was to the mutants who lived there that the idea of giving anyone anything they could use to get there was upsetting at a cellular level.

Kate silently watched James with her mouth pressed into a thin line and her eyes narrowed, too angry for a snappy comeback at first. But the second Katarina tried to ask her something again, Kate snapped back at her. "Oh, go bother some Hydra goon looking to get lucky, you second-rate copy of your mother."

Viper looked delighted at the response, then turned to her daughter. "Go to the other one, kitten. Start with something kind." Then she turned her focus to Vojteck. "You know what to do with her."

"Are you sure?" Katarina asked, doing her finest to look as if her day was ruined, even if Kate could see that was an act in spite of the fact that she wasn't nearly as comfortable as Vojteck was by the way he approached, pulling on a pair of gloves.

"For now, yes. Sodium pentothal with both of them to begin. We'll add more interesting things if they can manage to be obstinate under that," Viper said, turning her attention back to James with more drugs as Katarina looked more determined to get the answers she was looking for.

By the time James had burned through the third round of shots, he was shaking in rage and shock, so Viper decided to try a more direct approach with him anyhow. She was confident Katarina and Vojteck could handle getting the basics from Kate and Billy. Even if they were trained in some capacity, they were still vulnerable to the less volatile administrations that Viper had laid out for her children to use against them. It was good practice, after all. And while they studied, Viper would keep the more pressing interrogation to herself. She tried to get James to focus on her, and when he wouldn't, she took his chin in her hand - only for him to snarl at her and snap at her hand. A second later, Viper screeched and tried to pull back as James clamped down, biting her until his teeth met, though at that point, Viper had to shift her strategy to avoid having a chunk of flesh removed.

Billy whooped from the other table. "That's my man."

"You little bastard," she hissed as she tried to get control of the situation. She started by trying to get him to simply let go while Katarina and Vojteck stopped what they were doing, staring at the scene since neither had ever seen anyone fight back against their mother like that. But when the only response she got from James was a glare of pure loathing and a deeper growl, she lost her good humor and decided to attend to him in her own manner, even shouting at her guards to stay back aside from the one who had rushed to try and hold his head still. "You think I don't know how to handle you acting like this?" Viper bit out just before she pressed toward James hard with the hand he was biting. She was once again smiling maniacally when she covered his nose with her free hand, doing what she could with what was available to smother him, even climbing up onto the exam table to get a better angle. And she kept up the pressure - at least to the point he had to let go to breathe. But the second he did, she shifted gears and continued to try and smother him while hissing out curses until he stopped fighting and was trying to shake her loose.

She stepped back, glaring at James and holding her hand close to her chest while he was gasping for a breath. "Keep questioning them both. I'll deal with this one myself. Neither of you are ready to handle him." She got a wicked sort of smile as she watched the three captives. "I forgot how much of a challenge this could be. I've missed it."

Billy had turned a slightly green color, though he didn't say anything until Viper had gone to clean up and dress her hand, which was bleeding badly. And then, he addressed Vojteck first, just to say, "So… I'm going to hazard a guess that your workplace environment could stand improving."

"I don't know what you mean," Vojteck replied quietly. "It's always good to learn something new when torturing your enemies."

"Choke chain's pretty tight, huh?" Kate said.

"That's my mother you're talking about," Vojteck said in a snarl, drawing himself up with his eyes flashing dangerously.

"Oh, I stand corrected," Kate said - though she was smiling victoriously at getting some new information to work with. "Choke chain's pretty tightly wound in the apron strings, huh?"

Vojteck did his best to regain control of his temper as he glared at her. "I don't understand what Daniel sees in you." He smirked. "I"m not sure we can find a use for you. Not when you'll be so broken once we get our information." He tipped his chin down as he looked her way, taking his time as he let his gaze slowly go up and down her body. "Then again … if you can't cooperate, there is no reason to negotiate leaving anything for them to even find."

Kate glanced toward Billy and James and Vojteck stepped in the way to block her view. "Don't bother looking to them for help. They have their own problems to contend with. Your only card to play will be if you decide to be reasonable and tell me what I need to know about the tower and your security protocols." As he spoke, he gave her an injection as Viper had suggested.

Katarina had watched the whole interaction alongside Billy, busying herself with preparation while her brother was working Kate over. All of this was spiraling quickly out of a zone she was comfortable with. She'd had a hell of a time getting James under control enough to get him to Madripoor and she was fairly convinced mid-flight that she was going to run out of drugs to use on him… and then what would she do? Her mother had warned her that James would be difficult to control at first, but this was so far beyond that… Working on Billy would be a relief, frankly.

With a calming sigh, Katarina turned her attention to Billy. There was nothing more she needed to hear from her brother as he tried his hand at intimidating Kate, after all. For a long moment, she seemed to be staring at Billy, and he was watching her with a suspicious frown in return.

"What are you doing?" Billy asked quietly - not prepared fully to deal with more torture, but even less prepared to have Viper's lookalike blankly staring at him.

"I was considering giving you the easy route," she said, then smiled tightly a beat too late.

"Easy route?" Billy asked, not quite believing a word of it.

"Yes," she replied, then took a glove off to lay her hand on Billy's arm so he could feel the pull of her powerset encouraging him to try and please her. "But what fun would that be?" As Billy tried to blink out of the fog, she replaced her glove, then cut off Billy's sleeve for better access to the crook of his arm. "Now … what will it take to convince you that your best interests lie with Hydra?"

"Um … maybe for Hydra to stop … being Hydra?" Billy suggested as Katarina started her injection.

"That would go against our mission," she said, then smiled tightly. "Just give that a few minutes to start working and I'll ask you more about Genosha. Take your time and concentrate on that, now."

Very little time had passed before Viper returned. She was frowning at her injury and as she stepped into the room, she took the lid off of a glowing blue vial then drank it. She looked around the room, taking stock of the three captives and her children laying down the groundwork to get down to business. And while Kate and Billy weren't yet feeling the effects of the truth serum that had been injected into their veins, James was locked onto her with a deep glare that was accented with a growl as soon as Viper met his gaze.

She waggled the empty vial at him then tossed it across the room as she approached him. "Don't worry now, that was a little healing accelerator. I'll be good as new and ready to teach you some manners before you know it." She looked over her shoulder and snapped her fingers. "In the meantime …"

A moment or two later, three sets of helpers marched through the door with each group carrying a scanner toward each of the captives - to forcibly get scans of their hand prints. Every one of them knew it was trouble - and every one of them knew that this was her attempt to break into the tower at least. And though Billy and Kate fought them on it, and even did well enough to squirm enough to try and screw up the scans, James flat out refused to unclench his fists, knowing that he had clearance the other two didn't. And there was no way in hell he was going to allow her to take anything that would give her access to Tony's work.

The growls were enough to spook the helpers, and after a moment, Viper took Katarina by the elbow and dragged her over to help. "It seems my dear daughter, that our little pet has to learn some manners. You'll need to learn to handle him sooner than later, so while I heal, you will teach him to behave," Viper said.

"I'm not kissing him when he's like this," Katarina said, her false bravado cracking at the thought of what he might do to fight back against that after he bit Viper so viciously.

"Don't be ridiculous, dear," Viper said as she pushed a tray toward a clearly nervous Katarina. "We're still establishing his thresholds. An assault to the senses would be more appropriate." She smiled falsely and rested her good hand on James' knee. "So we'll start there and move along as required."

When Katarina hesitated, Viper continued. "I don't want to need to do this twice, so don't screw it up." She looked toward the tray and then gave Katarina a meaningful look. "You've done this before. Just be careful this time."

Katarina watched James for long enough that Viper had to snap her fingers to get her attention. "Yes, Mother," she said clearly, then narrowed her eyes at James and put on a cruel, false smile.

James, of course, had no idea what they were planning, or how they were going to go about doing anything. He was reasonably sure that Viper was going to keep from losing use of both hands, and Katarina had already learned exactly how much James didn't want them touching him. Both women came closer - one on either side of him standing between one outstretched arm and his torso, and James found himself unsure of who was the bigger threat.

Katarina had the tools, but Viper … Viper was clearly calling the shots and she was livid. But then, when James was watching Viper, caught half between angry and terrified, Katarina reached out and took a handful of his hair and forced him to turn his head to the left. She was a lot stronger than she looked.

"No, darling," Viper said, eyes flashing in a cold rage James hadn't seen from anyone. "I want the left one."

"Yes, mother." Katarina smirked, then looked down at James passively before she turned his head the other way with a fair bit of a fight.

"Don't snap his neck, darling," Viper warned just before Katarina managed to get him back under control.

"I won't," Katarina said. She held his head steady with one hand then turned to look for the tools before Vojteck caught up to them and offered his help by taking over holding James' head still. "Don't squirm."

"Wait-" James said in a panicked tone, realizing as she leaned in what she was up to. Not that it did him a bit of good. A few moments later, he was screaming again when she gouged out his eye.

The reaction from Billy was entirely uncontrolled as he started loudly swearing in every language he knew, pulling and straining against his restraints.

James was unable to do anything in response outside of trying and failing to curl in on himself While Katarina finished the job and Vojteck held him still. And, while he was reeling, Viper took the scanner and forced his hand into place. "A word of warning, boy: if this scan isn't perfect, I'll cut your hand off to get what I need." Which had Billy furiously switching his spell to 'Iwantyoudead' glaring venomously at both Viper and Katarina - more so to Katarina for looking so perfectly pleased with herself as she examined the eye and began to deal with preserving it properly. All while Viper looked proud of the way her two children had handled the whole situation. Right down to Vojteck congratulating Katarina on a job well done.

Viper watched the reactions from Kate and Billy for a moment longer, though her focus didn't seem to drift from James for long, and as the young man started to get a grip on himself, she smiled and reached into the pocket at her side.

"You see, my darling, little Wolverine," Viper purred out as James tried to get his bearings even a little bit, not fighting her while he was that far in shock. "I don't need you to tell me what I want to know. I don't even need you to cooperate. I will simply take what I want, when I want it, and you can't do a damn thing to stop me any more than your father could years ago. Even less than your father could manage when I first met him, in fact." When she finished her little hissing speech, she took a moment to put an eye patch over James' missing eye and let her hand rest over his heart. "It's been far too long since Madripoor welcomed Patch home. This is your new home now, my dear boy, so get used to it. I will never allow you to leave this island without my permission - and that won't happen until you learn to heel, and how to obey."

When James glanced up at her, he couldn't stop the low, rolling growl, glaring hard - though Viper only seemed more thrilled at his reaction.

Viper turned, watching Billy with her head tipped to the side slightly, then started to walk toward him. "Katarina, my dear heart," she said in a falsely sweet tone. "It appears as though your brother was right. Did you not know how close these two were?"

"I didn't realize they were at protective stages," Katarina admitted. "He'd refused to say who it was he was seeing. To be honest, I thought it might have been the Richards boy. I was sure he was more like Stark with lovers."

"That's a pity," Viper said, honestly sounding let down. "We could have used some insight into that group as well. It would have helped our ally. Unless…" she turned back to James and started stroking his hair. "Were you and little Franklin having a bit of naked fun all alone in that big house?"

"No," James said, still trying to catch his breath and shaking his head lightly. It was the truth, after all.

She hummed to herself and walked across the room where she pulled a tray closer and came to a stop next to Billy,. "Now, little man, we have some time and you have yet to tell me anything useful." She looked to Katarina, who was still near James. "Did you dose the prince properly?"

"Yes, not long before you returned," Katarina replied. "It hasn't had time to take full effect."

Viper turned her attention to Vojteck. "I injected Barton just before she handled Maximoff," he told her.

Viper nodded to herself and again looked toward Katarina, who was almost experimentally resting a hand on James' chest. "You have work to do, my dear. You can play with him later. He's not going anywhere."

Katarnia smiled - a false look that still seemed to please Viper - and she walked back to Billy and Vojteck rearranged a few things on the tray next to Kate.

"You can see we're prepared to get your little friend under control," he told Kate. "I know you want nothing more than to get far, far away from here. But let me be clear - unless you cooperate, there is no chance that will ever happen. No one knows where you are or who took you." He glanced over at his mother, who was whispering something similar to Billy, though the fact that she was keeping it that close and quiet seemed to irritate Katarina since she had nothing to do if she wasn't allowed to touch James and her mother was working over Billy. "So. Now that you've gotten some of that built up sass out of your system, I'll give you a choice." He tapped the air bubble out of the needle, then set the syringe aside. It was more of a threat anyhow when she was just starting to really feel the effects of the sodium pentothal. "Tell me what we're asking about your team nicely, or I will move forward with less pleasant cocktails."

"Look at you all grown up and independent," Kate said, making a face, before she tipped her head to the side, smirked, and added, "But with such a reasonable request… Okay, sure. 'What we're asking about your team nicely.'"

Vojteck drew in a steadying breath in an attempt to keep his temper in check. "Give me the codes for the tower, you insipid little twit."

By that point, Kate was feeling the effects of the drug, so she couldn't not answer, but considering how often Hydra had gone after her, she also had a solid defense that her dad had taught her.

Which was to talk. A lot.

"Okay, so, here's the thing about the codes. You really need to know where to put them in and at what times and days, because my mom is paranoid and likes to randomly change things up. I mean, I don't blame her, seeing as the riff-raff is trying to get in all the time, and honestly, she's been paranoid since before I was adopted. Got worse once there were kids in the tower. Have you ever seen her when she thinks one of us is in danger? The woman is scary. So yeah, obviously she changes things up. That's important for you to know when you get caught. And you will, by the way…"

Vojteck kept a straight face, though his jaw was working slightly. "Mother, can I poison her while she's on the truth serum?"

"No," Viper replied easily though it was clear Billy was doing a similar job of babbling. "Not yet. Give it a chance to work. You may have to try to guide her through it."

"Ooh, hey, Viper, what are you going to do if he poisons me anyway?" Kate sang out happily.

"I'm not sure. I'm tempted to do the same, little hawk," Viper called back. "But I'm busy with your little friend right now." She turned to look at Kate. "is there anything you would like to ask him?"

Kate tipped her head to the side, smirked, and nodded. "Hey, Billy, whose boyfriend do you think will be more destructive about their rage in this situation? Yours or mine?"

"Physically or mentally?" Billy had to ask after a moment.

"Yes."

"Well," he said drawing it out for a long moment. "Yours will lobotomize people? But mine will lobotomize people."

"Right? It's such a close matchup."

"I mean … mine will be messier about it …."

"Mine will be faster and get more people at once…"

"Yeah, but mine's here, so …"

"Mine nearly lobotomized an entire Hydra platoon for thinking of hurting me, and these guys let a doofus kiss me, so…"

"Yeah, mine's stupid protective too," Billy agreed, nodding to himself.

"Guess we'll have to wait and see how fast mine gets here," Kate decided.

Viper smiled at the two of them, and had to burst her bubble. "Katherine, my dear girl, I'm not an amateur. This place is shielded from telepaths. Even your little boy toy's mother wasn't able to look into this place. Your trackers and communicators are all in New York. No one knows where you are. And no one knows who took you."

Kate narrowed her eyes just long enough for Viper to see that she was shaken, but then she looked toward Billy. "Wow, so she really, really wants your mom to declare war, huh? Not how I'd want to go out, if it were me."

Billy shrugged. "Be a short war. You know. Once she gets away from Dr. Doooooom."

"We'll start calling you Billy of Troy."

He snerked at that, and grinned her way. "I mean … I'm from the Indian ocean, not the mediterranean. Still closer than you though..."

"See? I'm a genius."

Viper hummed as she and Katarina shared a look. "The weakest link then," she decided as she walked across the room toward James, though halfway there, she tossed a tiny dart into Billy's leg. It took a moment for him to get past the initial glare at Viper, but after a minute or so, Billy seemed unable to remain still and was clearly hurting. "Miss Barton. Either start talking or I'll be forced to torture your friend into insanity." She smiled sweetly at Kate. "You will remain unharmed."

"Pay attention, lady. I've been talking. Yeesh, dementia looks bad on you."

She snapped her fingers first at Vojteck, then at Katarina. "Give her the reversal now. And you- keep the boy on the edge of consciousness. I'll start on this one until she finds a reason to be a little more giving in her answers. She knows what I'm after. We've been very clear."

Both Vojteck and Katarina dove into their assigned tasks, and Viper looked positively livid, glaring at James as he growled at her. She pulled on some heavy duty gloves, then took out a different hypodermic needle. The needle was a heavy gauge and every part of the thing was shining stainless steel or glass. She stopped next to James and waited for Kate's drugs to work, pulling her out of the barbiturates she'd been on - and once she was clear headed, Viper tried one more time. "Codes for the tower, Miss Barton." When Kate predictably responded by working her hand around as much as possible to flip her off, Viper whispered out 'fine' and jammed the needle in her hand into the center of James' chest. His growl stuttered, then dropped off before she could withdraw the empty syringe, and it was easy enough to watch as James' eyes rolled into his head and his heart stopped on the monitors. "Speak quickly. It's difficult to estimate the right dose to reverse it. Taking his mutation into consideration, of course."

And that - that was the one thing Kate wasn't prepared to deal with. Someone killing her teammate. She didn't even have a witty response or a way to control her expression as she blurted out, "No, no, no, no, wait, just - no, okay? You just -" She shook her head. "Look, I can't - I can only give you my codes but they shift if one of us goes missing, okay?"

"Then tell me the routes to read them," she said, still not moving, with one hand on James' chest. "Passwords, the hidden gateways into the system. I'm very sure you know something useful since I know your mother wouldn't simply rely on telling you in person every time she changed something." When Kate couldn't speak, staring at James, Viper snapped her fingers. "If you don't care enough about your teammate to bother, then I don't know why I should either." She dropped the syringe in her hand on the tray next to James and started to walk toward Billy. "What about this one? Would you speak up to save him?"

Kate finally broke out of her shock. "Check my phone," she blurted out. "It'll show up as a text from Nate about our next date but the location of the date is the code. The coordinates are."

Finally Viper seemed to come down from the terrifying hyper-focused menace she had going on. "Thank you, Miss Barton." She continued until she was standing next to Billy anyhow, watching his vitals. After a moment, she strode back to James and quickly drew up a measure of something else that looked dangerous and jammed that needle into his heart as well and addressed Katarina. "Get the prince to tell you how he checks in with Genosha. Our Wolverine should be ready for round two by that time. We'll use the same drug plus thirty percent. Like I told you before, once you've established a baseline on our Wolverine, the same dosage won't do the trick the next time around. We won't know for sure if an additional thirty percent will be too much or too little until we try." She gestured for Vojteck to start chest compressions as she watched, even going so far as to correct his form while he worked, though she handled the rescue breathing until a rhythm came back on the monitor.

It only took the two of them a few minutes, but it was apparent when James was back because he started growling again once he was even partially conscious. But all any of the captives could do was glare… and worry about each other and whether Viper would kill any one of them to make a point again.