Chapter Eleven:
Kidnapped
Steve groaned; his entire head felt like it was on fire. Last thing he could remember was setting Toni into her bed and then sitting in the chair beside her. Now that he really thought about, he guessed he must have fallen asleep there. Still, that didn't explain why he now found himself lying on the stone ground of what looked to be a cell.
"Steve, you awake?" called a voice from his right.
He turned towards the voice, blinking his eyes in an attempt to rid himself of whatever he had been given to keep him under. Usually drugs didn't work on him, so whatever the stuff was, it was strong.
"Clint?" he whispered.
The voice sighed in relief.
"Yeah boss man", he replied, "You were out cold for a while. You with me now?"
Steve looked around, noting he was alone in the cell.
"Are the others with you?" he asked, his voice a bit scratchy.
Clint was silent for a moment.
"Bruce is in the cell on my left. I can hear his snores from here. Whatever they gave him is really keeping him under."
"Thor? Natasha? Toni?" he called, more than a little worried about Toni. What if they had hurt her?!
"Over here", came a distant voice from his left.
"Nat?" he called.
"Yeah, I have Toni here with me."
"Thor?" Clint asked.
"No, but I believe he is between our cell and Steve's, still asleep if my hearing is right."
"So they are keeping our two biggest hitters out cold for as long as they can", Steve voiced, "how is Toni?"
"Asleep. Luckily they placed her here with me. I would hate for her to wake up alone if the de-aging process had a bad side effect on her."
"Such as losing more of her memories?" asked Clint.
"Exactly, which according to Banner, may be the case. He seemed to think that she could gain her memories back, but every time she de-ages, she loses them again, plus some."
"So back to square one…" Steve whispered, angry.
No one said anything for a moment before finally Natasha broke the silence.
"She knows Steve, whether it's conscious or not. Even her twenty-one year old self who seemed to hate you fell in love with you, so she knows deep down inside herself, that you love her."
Steve smiled. "Thanks Nat. I won't stop telling her, no matter how many times she changes. She will always be my Toni."
The others smiled at his words while Natasha walked over to her young friend, taking in her baby face and pale features. They would cure this, somehow, they would help get their friend back to normal.
"Oh stop with the emotional crap", came an angry reply from across the hall.
Natasha, Steve, and Clint both stood up, trying to find the sound of the voice. Nat however was the one who could truly see the man that had spoken and what she saw, made her blood boil.
"Justin Hammer", she whispered.
The man in question turned to her, smiling.
"Ms. Romanoff", he replied with a fake smile, "what a pleasure to see you again."
"Doubtful", she snipped.
"You wound me", he murmured with a flat chuckle, "Tell me, is that truly Stark?"
Natasha glanced back at Toni who continued to sleep behind her.
"What if it is?" she asked.
"It may have been a year or two since last I saw her, but I don't think she was ever that young even then."
Natasha remained silent, glaring at him. The man just smiled from his own cell.
"You know I am a prisoner here to, right? It's not like I can get out."
"Good", Nat barked.
Justin just ignored her as he sat down on his bunk, thinking to himself. Natasha watched him a moment longer before Steve's voice floated over to her.
"Who is he?"
"An old enemy of Toni's", she replied.
"Former friend as well", Justin threw in, "close friend, in fact."
"You dated her?" Nat asked.
"For a single night", Justin huffed.
A groan sounded behind Natasha, causing her to turn. Seeing Toni twitch a bit in her sleep, she headed over to her side.
"Toni, you awake dear?" she called gently.
Toni blinked open her eyes, before they connected with Natasha's own. Toni jerked back, nearly falling off the bunk if Nat hadn't caught her in time.
"Where is Yinsen?" she whispered.
"Yinsen?" Nat asked, confused.
"The man who was in the caves with me! You just had him in here, so where he is?!" Toni yelled, face flushed with anger and fear.
Natasha paled. This Toni thought she was still in the caves…being tortured.
"Toni, listen to me" Nat whispered gently, "Yinsen isn't here, he's gone. My name is Natasha Romanoff, remember? You are my teammate."
Toni continued to stare at her, eyes narrowed.
"Is this a new interrogation technique? I got to admit, I like it way better than the whole waterboarding and torture thing, but… it still won't work. I won't tell Raza anything. Count on it."
Pride flowed through Natasha for her teammate. It made her smile hearing those strong, determined words, but she also grew concerned. Toni didn't believe her and if she didn't understand soon that Natasha was a friend, problems could arise. Especially since they didn't even know who had kidnapped them in the first place. No doubt bounty hunters, but still…"who had sent them?" she whispered.
"AIM kidnapped us", Hammer supplied.
"AIM?" came Steve's response.
"Advanced Idea Mechanics", explained Clint, "It's a terrorist organization. I remember Fury mentioning they were currently experimenting with a thing called Extremis."
"They are", Hammer nodded, "I was attempting to help them with it, when they betrayed me and dumped me in here."
Natasha smirked. No one better deserved it.
"AIM…" Toni whispered, "Not Ten Rings?"
"No", Natasha stated.
Toni blinked, finally really taking in her surroundings. This wasn't a cave. Looking down at herself, she took in the pajama red and gold silk clothes she was wearing. She also noticed the blue light shining through. Lowering the rim of her top, she stared at the reactor in wonder.
"I really did it", she whispered before a sharp groan pierced her head.
"Toni?" Natasha called in concern.
Toni blinked.
"Nat?" she asked.
Natasha smiled. "Welcome back Toni."
Toni looked around until her eyes connected with Hammers.
"Oh God, don't tell me that loser is responsible for all of this?"
"No!" came his indigenes response, "I…may have been kidnapped too."
Toni could only smirk at his whiney tone. Justin Hammer never changed. Always a loser.
"Toni?" called Steve, "Are you okay?!"
"Steve", she called back, her voice not near as strong as she thought it was, "I'm good."
Steve breathed out a sigh of relief.
"So AIM huh?" she asked standing up, her balance a bit tipsy. Natasha helped her regain it before letting go and allowing Toni a chance to move around, "Extremis I presume is what they want us for."
Natasha frowned. "Why?"
"Because Extremis only has a 98% chance of working", Hammer stated from his own cell, his eyes raking in the de-aged form of Toni Stark, "no doubt, they want stronger experiments in hopes of them surviving the transformation process."
"Right", agreed Toni, though she hated having to agree with him on anything he said. Ever!
Hammer smirked, hearing the word come from his rival.
"Oh don't even give me that look, nerd boy", Toni quipped, frowning, "you were kidnapped way before we were. Heck, they betrayed you by the sound of it, only using your skills for their own needs."
Hammer glowered. "You got kidnapped too."
"Uh, Hello", Toni called swiping a hand down to indicate her now young body, "I haven't exactly been in shape to defend myself."
Hammer had to admit, she had a point. "Your friends could have."
Toni glanced at Natasha and noticed the dark circles under her eyes, thought she tried to remain composed as usual, hiding her fatigue.
"They have been taking care of me. No doubt they are all exhausted."
Hammer didn't dignify that comment with a response, but he also couldn't help but think it shouldn't have been that easy to kidnap the Avengers of all people. If it had been, he should really think about doing it. Hmm…maybe he would in the future.
Toni rolled her eyes. It didn't take a genius to read the faces Hammer was making in the cell across from their own. The guy was a moron and a tool, but he might also be just the help they needed. Maybe together, they could escape from their kidnappers.
"You have a plan?" asked Nat.
"An idea", Toni admitted, "but it will depend on who are kidnappers are and what they plan to do with us for the next couple days."
"So far no one has come near our cells", Natasha told her.
"They haven't been near here in almost a week until they brought you guys in a few hours ago", Hammer informed them.
Toni glanced at him before nodding. "So I take it they want to wait until either everyone is awake or until they kidnap a few others on the list."
"What list?" Hammer asked curiously.
"A bounty list", Toni stated, a bit irritated with his insistent commentary over top of her own thoughts.
"I want to know how much I am worth. Tell me", he demanded.
"Don't you ever stop whining?" Toni asked, but huffed a sigh, "You were worth 100 mill."
Hammer grinned.
"I was worth 225", she said with a smirk.
Hammer glowered again, much to Toni's amusement.
"If you guys are done playing", Natasha interrupted, "I hear someone."
Toni's smile faded as sure enough, footsteps began making their way down the hall towards their cells.
"Greetings Avengers", a voice stated, "Captain America, it has truly be a long time."
Steve glared as he took in the appearance of one of the men he hated most in the world.
"Baron Von Strucker" He growled, "Head of Hydra."
The Baron merely smiled.
"Currently I am not here as the head of hydra, but as an ally to AIM."
"What exactly did you kidnap us for?" Steve barked out in anger.
The man didn't seem fazed by the Captains anger at all.
"You will soon see", he replied as he started past the Captain's cell to the final one where Natasha, Toni, and Hammer were located. He looked at all three before his gaze locked on Toni.
"Toni Stark", he replied, "You look…different."
Toni didn't reply, only glared at him.
"Still the same personality though I see", he replied smiling, "I am not a fool, contrary to belief. I can see the relationship between yourself and the Captain and I also know about the relationship between yourself and Hammer."
"What about it?" she asked, a bit nervous.
"Just this dear", he replied leaning forward, "You will my first guinea pig."
Toni swallowed, but Natasha stepped in front of her, glaring angrily.
"You lay one hand on her and I personally will see to it that you won't ever have that hand again."
The Baron stepped back a bit in fear, but quickly schooled his features as he smiled.
"We shall see", he replied, "Your brain is marvelous Ms. Stark, if Extremis works in you…well, it would be truly a marvel."
Toni didn't reply as the man walked away, laughing.
"Don't worry Toni, I will not let anything happen to you", Natasha whispered, but both of them knew if push came to shove, there was only a limited amount they could do to stop it.
"We best get to work on our plan then", Toni whispered, "We don't have a lot of time."
AUTHORS NOTE*
Wow, so I just am rapidly falling in love with this story. Writing it anyways. I can't wait to see what happens next!
Is it bad I fangirl my own stories sometimes? Lol. I don't know what will happen until I write it though, so I guess not XD Anyways, I hope you all enjoyed this chapter and the past two chapters. If I get lucky enough, I may get another one out late tonight or tomorrow, but who knows. No promises.
Thanks for reviewing and favoriting guys! Look forward to the next chapter!