A/N: Be Warned. This chapter contains a light amount nonconsensual stuff by a bad person who is evil. (2 out of 5 on the trigger scale) Though, I do kind of picture him as Klaus from TVD, but that does not condone this kind of behavior. You have been warned. Enjoy!

Chapter Two

Elena's POV

Avengers Facility Living Room

Pepper, Cassie, and I were sitting on the couch watching a new Disney movie. Well, new to me. It was called Tangled. Cassie and Pepper were asleep. I was fully invested. I loved all the movies Cassie showed me.

Rapunzel and Flynn were singing and releasing lanterns when FRIDAY interrupted on the room's intercom, "Miss Potts, intruders have entered the building, please get to the panic room."

Pepper woke up instantly and we were both on our feet. Cassie stirred slightly. Pepper shook Cassie awake. "Sweetie, we need to go."

I turn my attention to FRIDAY. "FRIDAY, why aren't the alarms going off."

"They seem to have been disabled. It is only a—" She was cut off, or I guess, shut off.

"That's impossible." Pepper commented as she picks up Cassie.

"We got to get you two to safety." I say and head towards the direction of the panic room, grabbing my electric staff, a gift from Natasha, on the way out of the break room. It wasn't too far. Just down the corridor, into a subdivision of the facility.

Cassie and Pepper follow close behind. There are two doors that lead into the subdivision. We go through the one on the west side, I freeze at the entrance. There are two Hydra agents already in the subdivision, blocking the panic room. How did they know where to go?

I put my finger to my lips, signaling Pepper and Cassie to stay quiet. Then I signal for them to move back. We turn silently and take about two steps when, down the hall, two more Hydra agents appear. There's one door near us. I try to open it, but it's locked.

The agents must have turned in our direction for one of them shouts, "I see the target."

I put myself in front of Pepper and Cassie, but that does me little good when more agents are coming towards us from the other direction.

Cassie is silently crying, and I hear Pepper whisper to her that it's going to be okay. I try to tell myself the same thing. I will make sure Pepper and Cassie are okay.

"Move that way," The Hydra agent orders gesturing towards the subdivision. He's pointing a gun at us, and, at this point, we have no choice but to do as they say. I can't risk fighting with Pepper and Cassie here.

We move to the subdivision, ironically the only thing between us and the panic room is two more Hydra agents. A total of four in the room.

The lead Hydra agents, or the one that I think is in charge, speaks through an earpiece. "We have the asset."

Well, I can only assume that means me. And that can only mean that he is here.

As they say, speak of the devil. He walks into the area.

Nikolai.

He looks the same as before. Light brown hair, green eyes. He would be attractive if he wasn't such a sadistic bastard.

I stand in front of Pepper and Cassie; my only goal is to protect them. It's not going to go well for me, I already know that. I still have my staff in my hands, although I'm not sure how much it's going to help in this moment. I grip it fiercely.

"Ah, playing hero, I see." Nikolai says condescendingly. His British accent stirs up memories not just of him, but of his father, my old handler. He turns to his men. "Round them up and let's go."

The closest one goes to grab me; I easily take him out and push him into the agent next to him. That's two. Nikolai laughs. He motions for the other two to hold on a moment.

I pause, waiting for the next move. Nikolai speaks, "you can take out all the men in the room, there are more outside the building."

He knows I can't take everyone down and he's right. I try a different path, "you don't want them" I say referencing Pepper and Cassie. "You don't want the Avengers chasing you down, that's what taking them will bring."

"Hmm? An American accent? That's what you stuck with? Trying to pretend you're one of them. An Avenger?" He rolls his eyes.

Why does everyone focus on what accent I use?

"I would have thought you would have gone with my beloved father's accent. British. More charming. More elegant. Wouldn't you agree?" He winks at Pepper.

I mask my annoyance because I know that's what he wants. He was always aggravating, even as a teenager. His stupid jokes at my dire situation.

Nikolai laughs again. I hate that laugh and I hate how much he enjoys this situation. "You're right, I don't really care about them. Although I'm sure someone in Hydra could use the little one as a future asset."

He smiles at Cassie, and she buries her face in Pepper's shoulder.

I swallow hard. "You'll have to kill me to get to them."

"And let's say I let them go, then what do I get." That arrogant bastard, this is all just a game to him.

I'm quick to respond. "Wouldn't the Avengers not spending every moment hunting you down be enough?"

He chuckles, "Well, I suppose that is good… plus I get you, so that's a win." He smiles as he turns his attention to the two men I took out, who have managed to recover their position in front of the panic room. "Let the two of them in."

"We're not going without you," Pepper whispers urgently in my ear. She does not like where this is going, and I don't blame her.

I whisper back, "you need to protect Cassie, the panic room is on its own server, so you should be safe."

Pepper presses her lips together, her sign for when she's upset. I noticed it a lot when she's talking to Tony. Yet, she knows I'm right.

She squeezes my shoulder and moves to where the panic room door is, pressing her thumb onto the pad. The door opens and they walk in. Pepper looks at me with concern as the door closes.

"So, now it's just us." Nikolai says. "Now are we going to do this the easy way or the hard way."

"I've never heard of the easy way."

"You've gotten feisty." He says with a smirk. "It'll be fun to beat it out of you." He motions for the agents to get me.

The four agents come at me, and it takes a few moments, but then they are all on the floor. "You need to get better agents, it looks like."

"I'm working on it." He says, undeterred. "You must have gotten soft; they all look to still be breathing."

He steps towards me, and I take this time to swipe at his feet. He jumps over, but I don't hesitate the next one hits him in the jaw. His head slightly turns at the impact, but it should have left more of an impact. Was I getting weaker?

I'm puzzled, but I try not to let it distract me. I swing the staff again, but he dodges and then grabs at the staff. He has his hand on it and I turn on the electricity. That seemed to have an effect. He recoils from the staff, staggering back. He looks up at me, this time less amused and more furiously. He grabs the staff again, quickly pulling it out of my hands with a strength I didn't know he possessed.

He moves towards me, and I hit him in the chest as swiftly and as hard as I can. He doesn't have time to block. Still, I think it hurt me more than it hurt him. I'm shocked by how little he seemed to feel it. He grabs me by the neck and pushes me against the wall. He has a strength to it, similar to Steve's enhanced strength, that leaves a me-sized dent in the wall. It also knocks the breath out of me.

"You're not the only one enhanced now," he says, the amusement back on his face.

So many questions fill my head, but I can't say anything. His hand is still around my throat, holding me up a few inches off the ground, and I'm struggling to breathe. I see the other agents slowly starting to get up.

My vision is starting to blur when he finally loosens his grip. He doesn't fully let go, just enough for me to sink to my feet and breathe again.

"I was going to surprise you when I got back to the base, the scepter was a little to dangerous, but the super serum had been providing good results."

"But when I got back, you had escaped with the Avengers. You didn't think I was going to let that slide, did you? I spent a lot of time finding a way to break in here, when the Avengers were gone, through all of Stark's security, just to get to you."

"I'm flattered," I say sarcastically.

"You should be. You know how I feel about you. I love you."

I cringe at the words. "Obsession is not—"

Before I can finish, his lips are on mine. I try to push him off, but it's like trying to push a building. His enhancement was going to make getting away really difficult.

I feel one of his hands leave my throat and move to my waist. His hand brushes upwards, lifting the side of my shirt in the process so he was touching my skin. I focus my attention to stopping his hand, but it is just as hard to move. Shit. Shit. Shit.

Luckily, he moves away after a moment. He casually tosses me at one of the agents, landing on the floor in front of the one I had taken down twice. He must already know what to do, for a needle pierces my neck before I have a chance to do it a third time.

I panic and in a pathetic attempt to escape, I grab his gun.

The guards lift there guns, but Nikolai puts his hand up to hold them. He's waiting to see what I do, he knows I can't shoot my way out.

My vision goes spotty quickly and I have to make a choose fast. I'd rather die than go back there.

I point the gun at my head and pull the trigger.

Nikolai's laughter is all I hear. I pull it again. Nothing. "New guns." He says. "Fingerprint activated."

That's all I hear before everything goes dark.

I wake up in a Hydra cell. I jump up from the floor, letting out a frustrated and angry scream. I punch the glass of the cell over and over again until the glass and my hand are covered in my own blood. My breath is becoming shallow. I'm panicking. I can't be here.

I hate myself. I should have found a way to kill myself. I was stupid again, there was a part of me that thought that they could protect me, that I wouldn't end up back here. Stupid. Weak. Pathetic. Naïve.

Shakily I crumble to the floor. I try to calm myself. I've been through this before, I can do it again.

It won't be the same.

For one, I know and remember what it was like being outside of Hydra. Two, there were people out there that I care about. Three, in here, there was Nikolai- with super solider strength- and just as crazy as ever.