Tony paced back and forth, occasionally running his fingers through his silver hair and exhaling loudly. Sarah sat on the couch with her brother on the floor next to her, resting his back against the cushions. He'd undone the front of his black suit, allowing himself to breathe as he panicked. MJ went to go stay with her parents and son, dreading how she would explain to Ben what happened to his father.
Wanda leaned against the wall, watching Tony pace, wondering if she should try and use her magic to comfort the women on the floor. Tessa leaned against Kayla's shoulder, staring ahead blankly as Kayla traced the silver star in the center of Captain America's shield. An hour had passed and nobody had spoken. There was nothing to say.
"Kayla." Wanda finally said, drawing the blonde's attention away from the shield. Once she had Kayla's attention, Wanda murmured, "What do you want to do?"
Tony looked over at Wanda, but the Scarlet Witch put up her index finger, telling him to give her a moment. Kayla looked up at the wall past Wanda, breathing heavily through her mouth as she considered her answer. After bopping her head in a little nod, she turned to face Wanda and Tony, "I want to go after them. If we don't, nobody will."
Wanda nodded, turning to Tony, "Let's assemble the team."
"Whatever it takes." Tony muttered, and Kayla pushed herself to her feet. Tess looked up at her through tear-stained eyes and nodded.
"I'm coming too."
"What? No. No, you're going to stay with the kids." Kayla ordered as she latched her hands onto her hips.
James leapt to his feet and charged toward his mother, grabbing her upper arms as she tried to turn away from him, "Mom, no, you aren't leaving me. I'm going. We're going to get them back, together."
"Yeah, James is right, we're going." Sarah stood and crossed her arms across her chest, but noticed that James had narrowed her eyes at her. She groaned loudly, "Really? You can go, but I can't?"
"Yeah. I'm a super soldier. That thing sucked your serum right out of you in the womb. So you can stay with Aunt Tessa." James snapped and Kayla cleared her throat to get her son's attention.
Tessa lifted her hand, waiting for someone to call on her so she could say what was on her mind. Kayla turned from her son and looked to Tessa and the brunette smiled sadly, "I'm going. He has my husband, and to be honest, you're going to need all the help you can get."
"So it's settled! We're all going!" Sarah exclaimed, throwing her hands in the air as Kayla began to talk over her, "No, Mom, I'm going. I have to." She sighed, closing her eyes to summon the memory, "They said it has to be me. I'm the only one who can fight him."
"Oh. Okay. Now you're really not going." Kayla warned, but Sarah reached out and grabbed her mother's arms, pleading her to listen.
"I have the same power as him. I can help. I just need to learn how to use it."
"I'll teach her." Kayla's and Sarah's heads snapped at Wanda's voice. The redhead straightened her red leather jacket, "We can work on it while you figure out where they are. I'll call in reinforcements."
"From SHIELD? Those people who kidnapped me?" James stared at Wanda, but she just grinned.
"The Enchantress kidnapped you. SHIELD wanted to use you. But the Avengers will never betray you. I know this." Wanda told James and he softened a little, turning to his mother. Wanda lifted her chin, waiting for Kayla's decision, "Kay. You ran headfirst into a lot of fights you had no business in. You know you'll die if you go alone. Who does that benefit?"
Kayla's eyes shifted between her children, her best friend, and her former teammates. "What if we lose? What happens if we can't fix this?"
Tony approached Kayla with weary footsteps, bending down slowly to pick up Cap's shield and hand it to her, "Whatever happens, we do it together as a team. Your husband taught me that."
Kayla looked down, seeing Zawadi panting up at her excitedly. "Alright." Kayla said, her determination growing as she stared out the broken doorway, "Let's get moving."
Red Skull stormed through the old office building, using his power to find where Amora was tormenting the veterans while Morgan walked behind him in a trance. When Schmidt walked through the archway, he found the Enchantress zapping shackles onto Steve Rogers and Bucky Barnes, trapping them against the wall of the glass cages she'd created for them as they struggled.
She turned to Schmidt with an excited glimmer in her eyes, but her excitement fell when she saw Morgan, "That's not the wife."
"It's Iron Man's daughter. She's just as good." Schmidt grumbled as he gestured for Morgan to enter a glass cage beside Bucky.
Amora pouted, sticking her red painted lip out as she glared at Red Skull, "I want to play with his wife. It's not fun if she isn't here. I want to crush her soul and kill her children."
Steve paled at the woman's words, and would have cried out if it weren't for the gag in his mouth. He looked to Bucky, only to find him staring daggers at the Enchantress with a bitter resignation. Being held captive wasn't a new feeling for Barnes.
Amora blasted the glass box and trapped Morgan inside, snapping her out of her trance the moment she was sealed in. "Let me out of here!" She screamed as she pounded on the glass. She backed away and tapped repeatedly on her band, trying to bring her suit to life, but nothing happened.
"Tech scrambler. Your suit won't work here. Fun, right? I'm learning." Amora cooed as she slunk her way along the glass cages, studying her prey, "Who should I play with first?" She suddenly gasped excitedly, remembering something very interesting and she swung around to address Schmidt, her long hair flinging over her shoulder. She adjusted her green headpiece, clasping her hands together hopefully, "Did you get it?"
Schmidt brandished the vial of anti-serum and was answered by a slew of wide eyes. Steve started trying to rip the chains off the wall while Amora laughed loudly, clapping her hands as she reached for it.
"Oohhh, gimme gimme!" She giggled, staring at the blue liquid like it was a better present than Kayla. "So it'll take their strength?"
"Yes." Red Skull answered simply, staring Steve dead in the eye, "But it's only one dose. She tried to use it in a sad attempt to kill herself so I couldn't get more out of her." Steve's expression fell, so Schmidt smiled grandly, "At first I was disappointed I couldn't use it on all of them, but then I realized," He paused, looking from Steve to Barnes, "There are other ways of torture."
"You can't do this. They'll stop you. You won't get away with this-" Morgan yelled before Amora twisted her wrist and a gag appeared in her mouth. She screamed into the cloth as she flew to the back wall, shackled up same as Bucky and Steve.
"Thank you! It's so hard to get any good work done with all the squawking and the yelling and the crying." Amora mocked, looking to Steve, "But the girl is right. They'll come. She'll come for him." Amora grinned, her teeth almost sharp as they sparkled, "I wanna see what happens. Do it."
Steve swallowed down his fear as Schmidt approached him with the needle exposed. This was it. Time after time Steve Rogers dodged death on every battlefield he stepped foot on, but it would be the very thing that gave him this life that would take it away. Amora dropped the wall as Schmidt reached him, the blonde Enchantress beaming like a jackal while Bucky watched in terror as the Red Skull pulled the neckline of his suit aside and plunged the needle into his neck, draining all the liquid before pulling away.
"Let him go. I want to watch him writhe as Erskine's serum is drained from him." Amora made the shackles and the gag disappear as the glass wall reappeared. Steve stumbled forward onto his hands and knees, gasping for breath as his body betrayed him.
He let out a pained yell as he felt his muscles shrink and his bones become more brittle. Steve felt closer to the ground as he shrunk and his lungs seem to deplete of air without hope of getting it back. His arms began to shake as the years began to catch up with him. He was getting older.
"Oh, that's no fun. We have to wait for wifey for that." Amora hummed and waved her hand at him, sucking away his years until he looked up at her with bright, youthful eyes that seemed too big for his small face. "That's better. She'll be so happy to see you. So cute." Amora purred as Steve snarled at her, but he couldn't get up. The Enchantress turned her sights on Bucky and the man stared at her with dead eyes, wondering what horrors she held for him since Schmidt wasn't able to get any more serum from Kayla. Having Zola's super soldier serum drained from his system would be a happy blessing, but he wouldn't be so lucky.
Amora bat her eyelashes at Bucky, twisting her lips to the side thoughtfully, "Oh, I know! You know what will be so much fun? When your friends come, you can kill them!" She chirped, dropping the glass wall and the shackles as Schmidt blasted Bucky, rendering him emotionless as Amora giggled and led him away from Steve and Morgan, "Let's go, Sergeant Barnes. I have a lot of hard work to undo."
"Schmidt, let him go. It's me you want. I'm on my knees. I'm powerless, one good punch I'll be gone. End this and let my friends and family be." Steve pleaded, pushing himself to his feet to lean against the glass. Schmidt seemed to consider his proposition, studying the frail man before him.
"It's not enough just to kill you." He said quietly, his voice so soft and calm it made Steve quiver, but that might have just been his weakened legs. The Red Skull approached the glass, looking down at Steve Rogers with a condescending smirk, "I want to tear you apart. I wanted you to lose your strength not because I thought it would bother you, but because it'll break you when you aren't strong enough to save your family and friends."
Steve hung his head, his hair falling over his young face as Schmidt moved over to Morgan. "And you. Such a beautiful girl. It's no wonder his son is taken with you. You should have seen his face when I took you away." Morgan forced herself to stay emotionless, even though she wanted to cry out all her frustrations as the Red Skull taunted her, "Lucky you, I don't have any plans for your destruction. I don't really care what happens to you and your father, so we'll just see what we come up with when the time comes.
Steve, Morgan, and Schmidt all looked up at the same time and toward the direction Amora had taken Bucky when an anguished scream radiated down the hall. When the Red Skull turned back to Morgan, his teeth were bared in a wicked smile, "Actually, I know just the way to get rid of you."
Morgan squirmed against her binds, screaming as Schmidt walked away, leaving her and Steve alone to wait on whatever horrors awaited their saviors.
Steve allowed himself to slide down the glass, letting his face fall into his hand to weep. After a few moments of sobbing, he felt his lungs constrict and became harder to breathe. His suit didn't fit anymore, and it hung heavy against his small frame. He wished the nano tech would work so he could make it smaller, but Steve didn't even want to wear the star on his chest anymore. It would just remind him that he was on borrowed time, and he was only allowed to live now so he could watch his family die later.
It was Kayla's fault. She took the Soul Stone, but it was Steve's fault, too. She was drawn to it, and he ignored it, more worried about his duty as Captain America to see that the stone was overtaking his wife. He should have checked again. He shouldn't have let her go to Vormir. He shouldn't have left her, because then they could have defeated Schmidt at the gala years ago. Steve should have been more present for Kayla, but maybe it wouldn't have mattered. Maybe it wasn't meant for her.
Maybe the Soul Stone was meant for his daughter.
Back at the Parker house, Tony was tracking Morgan's suit, finding its location until it shorted out. "I've got a hit on them. At least I hope I do. This is where her suit went dark." He pointed to a spot on a hologram and Tessa stared up at it hopefully, clinging to the dog tags around her neck.
Suddenly, Sarah doubled over in pain, holding her stomach as she leaned forward on the couch. She let out a sharp gasp and her brother was kneeling beside her in an instant.
"Sarah? Sarah what's wrong? What's happening?" He asked as Kayla came sprinting into the room to kneel beside James.
"Honey? Honey talk to me, what's happening?" Kayla pressed, and Wanda wiggled her fingers behind the girl's head, drawing her thoughts before gasping. Kayla looked up at Wanda and the redhead met her gaze with fearful eyes, "What did you see?"
"You can see something?" Sarah groaned, leaning into her brother's shoulder as he rubbed her back, looking up at Wanda expectantly, but Wanda just shook her head, leaning forward and flooding Sarah's mind with happy thoughts to take her mind off of the pain. Sarah hissed, pressing her fingers to her temples to rub her head as Wanda worked to soothe her. "Can you see people's memories?" Sarah asked over her shoulder, but Wanda shook her head.
"I can see people's thoughts. I can create visions and I have telekinesis. But I can't access someone's memories... Can you?" She pressed and Sarah nodded a little, feeling the pain subside.
"Did you see something?" Kayla asked again, her stone cold gaze stuck on Wanda, but her pupils were dilated as the woman just shook her head again. Kayla narrowed her eyes, mumbling, "I don't believe you."
"The Soul Stone is a very odd energy source." Wanda said quietly, stroking the back of Sarah's long hair, "Carol has immense power and strength, I have the power to manipulate minds and objects, but you, your gifts are something much more personal. I drew power from my fear for so long. You'll draw power from the people around you."
"I'm jealous that I don't have magic powers." James chuckled, mostly to make his sister feel better and she grinned up at him. "Did you see something? I know you've seen flashes before. And you see people sometimes..."
"It wasn't like that. It was just pain, all throughout my body. Like it was burning from the inside out." Sarah explained to James, noticing the way her mother clenched her eyes shut and turned her face away, trying to shut out whatever emotion she was feeling. Sarah decided not to bring it up. "But I don't know where it came from."
Kayla looked up at Wanda with watery eyes and Wanda smiled sadly, so Kayla nodded a little. "I do. We have to go. I'm the only one who can fix this."