Chapter Twelve:
With friends like these...
Clint sighed for the millionth time that day as he sat with his back to the cell wall juggling around some small pebbles he had picked up off the floor. He was so BORED!
"Why can't villains ever just finish people off when they have them?" he wondered aloud, "instead, we are all going to be stuck in these small cells until we are gray with lots of wrinkles."
"Clint, you going to make it over there?" Steve asked, listening with amusement to the man's ramblings.
"Maybe", he stated with another sigh, "not to mention the sexiness levels. There are never hot villains when you need them. Ugh!"
Natasha who had also been listening just shook her head before turning back to Toni. She knew Clint was letting off steam and she was glad for it, as it allowed everyone to get a small, much needed laugh at his expense. Although, he could have done without the last comment, she thought to herself with a frown.
Toni wasn't paying any attention to it. She and Hammer had been going back and forth discussing the ins and outs of the place they were currently being held. Luckily, Hammer was more than willing to help them escape if it meant he also got out alive.
"Let's go over this again", Toni replied, "If we get out of our cells, we head down the hall and to the right. At the end of that hall on the left is a small security room. We take out that room and they can't see us until we hit the third level, because we are five levels underground?"
"Right", he nodded, wincing with the word, "when we reach the third level…well… I actually don't know where the security room is on that level. They never showed me."
"Maybe we can access it from the first security room", Toni whispered more to herself than to him.
"Maybe", Hammer said in agreement, though with plausible doubt.
The sound of a door opening at the end of their hall had both inventors quickly sitting back, acting nonchalant. They didn't want to risk their prison keepers figuring out that they were doing more than just arguing with one another.
"Hammer, just quit talking while you still can" Toni yelled loud enough for anyone coming towards them to hear, "God, you are such a pain."
Hammer gave her his best glare. "Like you are one to talk, Stark."
Toni glared back, though she and Natasha were listening to the coming footsteps rather than their silly, little, play argument.
"Captain Rogers" a voice stated.
"Baron", Toni whispered, straining to listen.
"What do you want Strucker" Steve growled from where he now stood in front of the bars.
"You will follow me", The Baron replied evenly, though a sinister smile crossed his lips.
"And if I don't?" Steve asked.
"I was hoping you would say that", the baron stated as he turned to a guard and said something to him.
Toni watched with a growing unease as they stepped in front of their cell.
"You will come with us", they stated.
Toni stepped back and Natasha stepped in front of her, prepared to fight, but the two men were calm as they opened the door and stepped inside. Nat jumped to try and take advantage of the cell door being open, but when she did, she felt her foot collide with something that was definitely not human flesh. She winced as she landed, holding her ankle.
"What are you…" she whispered.
"Androids", one replied before turning to Toni, "You will come with us."
Toni glanced at Natasha who looked ready and willing to keep fighting them, but Toni knew it might hinder their escape plan if it caused Nat to get hurt now. Maybe following them would at least give her a better understanding of the layout in the long run.
"Take me to your leader", she replied smugly, stepping forward.
The bots grabbed her arms roughly and began pulling her out of the cell. Memories of Afghanistan swirled in the back of her mind, but she refused to fall into them. Down at the end of the hall, still standing in front of another cell was the Baron. When he saw her, he smirked and turned back to whoever he was talking to. She hadn't been able to hear very well what they were saying in her own cell, but now she could hear it all quite clearly.
"Here's the deal Captain. Either you come with us willingly, or…" Baron turned and grabbed her by the chin, yanking her in front of the cell bars. Steve's eyes widened with horror when he saw Toni and Toni had to admit, she was a bit horrified in her own right when she figured out she was a bargaining chip against her boyfriend, lover…what was the title?
"What do you say, Captain Rogers?" Baron snarled.
Steve sighed, defeated. He couldn't hurt Toni.
"Fine, take me", he replied.
Baron grinned devilishly as he turned to the other two guards behind him who moved forward, grasping Steve's arms a lot like they were Toni's.
"Also", the Baron smirked, "bring the green one."
Toni and Steve glanced back in time to see two guards dragging out a heavily drugged Bruce Banner from his cell before the door they had gone through clanged shut behind them. As they walked now side by side, the four guards on all sides of them, Steve grasped Toni's hand in his own.
"Are you alright", he whispered out of the side of his mouth in low tones.
"Peachy", she replied just as quietly, "You?"
"Peachy", he repeated in a reply back, causing her to roll her eyes, but Steve smiled, "I am sorry we didn't protect you when you needed us."
Toni glanced at him.
"Don't be. I should have waited to let Bruce try and extract the stone before we knew more about it. I just…wanted it out."
"Rightfully so", Steve argued, "You have nothing to be sorry for. It was hurting you."
Toni grimaced, not wanting to tell him it was still hurting her, along with the usual ache that came with wearing the arc reactor in her chest.
The Baron drew to a stop in front of two metal doors before he turned to look at his two prisoners, with something akin to what Toni could only describe as pure glee.
"Captain, this room please", he stated, pointing at the left door.
Steve stiffened, glaring at the man as he gave Toni's hand one final squeeze and then let go, stepping into the room with two guards following behind him.
"The right room, please", he stated watching Toni curiously.
Toni started towards it, but the Baron grabbed her shoulder. She froze at the touch.
"What is it the Captain sees in you?" he wondered aloud before releasing her and shooing her inside, "We will soon see."
With those words, the door behind her closed as the two guards holding her shoved her into a metal chair in the center of the room facing a large mirror. She tried very hard not to stare at it when she noticed her eighteen year old self staring back.
"Steve!" she shouted, hoping he could hear her from his own room next door, however he did not reply.
The Baron stepped into Steve's room, grinning like a mad man. He had Ironman and Captain America at his mercy and better yet, he knew they were each other's weakness. Things were about to get fun.
"Captain, shall we talk?" he asked, not surprised when the other remained silent.
"Your silence is futile Captain. Shall I show you something?" the man asked.
Steve eyed him curiously before the Baron grinned and pressed on the mirror with his hand. The mirror changed to a window and he jumped up, the guards of the hands restraining him when he saw what was in the window.
"D-Don't…" he whispered desperately.
"Don't what Captain?" The Baron asked grinning.
Steve gulped. "Get her out of there!"
The Baron said nothing, only smiled as he himself turned to see the scene. A drugged up Bruce Banner had been brought into the same room as Toni. While she was very glad to see her brother alive, she had a bad feeling when he seemed not to recognize her in his current state.
"Bruce", she called desperately, "Stay calm."
Bruce wrinkled his forehead in confusion.
Steve gulped.
"Tell me Captain America, what is your real name?"
Steve glanced at him and then back at his girlfriend and friend.
"You already know what it is", he replied coldly.
"I do, but I wish you to say it."
Steve's eyes were hard as flint.
"Steven Rogers, Captain in the US Special Ops."
The Baron smiled as though having tasted something surprisingly good.
"Tell me the names of your team and their positions."
Steve hesitated, but he figured AIM probably knew already what their names were. Shield and the Avengers hadn't exactly tried to keep it a secret from the public. He wondered where the Baron was going with these questions.
"Steve Rogers, leader of the Avengers, Captain America", he started before his eyes turned to the window again, "Antoinette Stark, second in commander of the Avengers, Scientist, Inventor, Billionaire, philanthropist, Ironman."
"Continue", the Baron commanded when Steve stopped.
"Bruce Banner, scientist, Hulk, Avenger. Thor, Norse demigod, Prince of Asgard, Avenger. Clint Barton, Hawkeye, Archer, Avenger. Natasha Romanoff, Black Widow, Assassin, Avenger."
"Good", the Baron stated, his eyes menacing as he stepped around the Captain, trying make sure he could keep a clear view of the window with each question.
"Who is the director of shield?"
Steve hesitated. Did they know about Fury?
"Answer", the man demanded.
Steve grit his teeth together. "Nick Fury", he replied.
The Baron nodded, grinning.
"Good. Now, tell me Captain Roger, how important are your teammates to you?"
Steve glared at him. "You know the answer to that. They are very important to me."
The Baron nodded again, "Then answer this question. What is the access code for the Shield crypt?"
Steve stiffened. The crypt as the baron called it, was Shields encrypted files. Files that were made that way specifically so that anyone who tried to hack them couldn't unless they had a security code. Only four people knew the code. Nick Fury, The encyrptor who Steve didn't know the name of, himself as the leader of the Avengers, and then Toni Stark because she had broken the encryption on her own while hacking into Shield files, much to Fury's, well…fury.
"No", he replied.
"Did you say No?" the baron asked smugly and Steve hesitated before giving a firm, stiff nod. "very well then."
The baron turned to the window and knocked four times as the mirror in the other room turned into a window that allowed them to see into Steve's. Toni captured his eyes and Steve realized she could now see him.
"Toni!" he shouted, but apparently she still couldn't hear him.
"Steve…" she whispered before a sound had her turning back the drugged Banner. Someone had stupidly just slapped the man.
"Wake up doctor!" one of the guards ordered as he slapped him with the back of his hand again.
"Stop!" Toni shouted, "Don't you understand what will happen if you make him mad?!"
The guard turned to her and smiled.
"Of course."
Toni reeled back off the chair in fear as once again, the man struck Bruce across the face. No doubt he would have bruises, but Toni was more concerned with the green tint taking over the man's usually pale coloring.
"Bruce…" she whispered.
Bruce Banner however couldn't hear her or understand her in the drugged depths of his mind. The Hulk roared from within and burst out without anything to stop him. Toni watched with fear as Bruce's clothes shredded and his body grew green and bulky.
"No!" Steve shouted from his own room, but the guards holding him continued to press down on his shoulders with a firmness and strength inhuman, not that he noticed. He had other things to think about right now, such as his girlfriend who was now trapped with a drugged up Hulk. Normally, Steve wouldn't be worried, because Hulk liked Toni, but in this case, it looked like Hulk didn't recognize anything.
"Big green", she whispered out to him as soothingly as she could, "take it easy. It's me, Toni? Can you hear me?"
Hulk however didn't reply as he let out another roar. The guards who were grabbing him stepped back, but to no avail. The hulk noticed them and without a single thought, grabbed one of them and ripped him in half. Machine parts flew across the room as Toni got her first real look at the mechanics. Not bad. Not bad at all, thought the inventor in her, but quickly the Ironman in her took over.
"Bruce, you have to stop", she pleaded, stepping forward.
"Toni get back!" Steve shouted, to no avail.
Hulk grabbed the other android when it moved to shoot him with another sedative. While he focused on ripping that bot in half, the gun slid over to where Toni was located, though it was partially crushed. Hurryingly taking it apart, she noticed the four darts within, no doubt housing a very strong sedative. Slipping one up the sleeve of her nightshirt for later, she grabbed the other three and rushed at her friend, knowing she could probably only do this now while he was distracted with the struggling android in his hands.
Hulk noticed her getting closer, but in his mind, he saw an enemy and not his friend. He ripped the android in half, effectively shutting up its screams and halting its struggles, but it was enough time for Toni to get close. Ducking under the arm of the hulk, she attempted to ram the needles into his arm when a hand closed around her left arm and yanked her up and off the ground.
"Scrawny android", he declared in his hulked out voice. She panicked at his words though. He truly thought she was the enemy!
"Hulk, its Toni big green. Come on man, its tin can."
Hulk paused as he continued staring at her, not even noticing that she was grimacing in pain at the harsh pressure he was placing on her left arm.
"Tin can…" he whispered out, but the words came out more in the form of a question. It was obvious to Toni that her friend was completely drugged to the gills.
"Tin can", she repeated, "Ironman. Toni Stark. Friend. Bruce Banner's sister. Science sibs, remember?"
Hulk stared at her as she bit her lip, trying not to scream in pain. She knew doing so would only startle him and now was not a good time for him to be startled.
"Tin can", he repeated before he gently lowered her down to the ground.
Toni breathed a sigh of relief and so did Steve who was watching with fear, not having missed her signs of pain, but the Baron fumed at the scene.
"No!" he shouted and ran out of the room and into the room where the hulk and Toni were located.
"Stupid monster, finish her!" he screamed.
Toni blinked at him before a smug smile crossed her face.
"You honestly didn't think through coming in here, did you?" she asked and the Baron stared at her before paling and began backing up as the Hulk locked eyes on him, "Hulk…" she stated with a wide grin "smash."
The hulk turned, smiling.
"Hulk Smash!" he yelled and charged.
Toni could only laugh as she watched the Baron run as fast as he could out of the room and down the hall as Hulk smashed through the walls trying to follow. Steve who had been watching breathed a sigh of relief as he now focused his attention on the two bots holding him down, no doubt waiting for orders. Hooking his arms more firmly in their grip, he swung from his chair and bashed one into the steel door. The bot released his arm, allowing him free reign to grab the other and throw him over top of his head.
Toni who had raced for the room next to her own watched with pride as Steve trashed the two androids before turning to her, a goofy smile crossing his features.
"Let's get out of here", he stated.
"Right", she replied as the two headed for the cells of their friends.
AVNGRS
In another part of the base, a man/machine known as Modok watched with bitter amusement.
"Shouldn't we stop them sir?" a guard asked.
Modok was silent for a moment.
"I want to see what they do next", he replied as he reached out and pet the screen before him, right across the face of Toni Stark, "She is perfect for this experiment. Beyond perfect actually."
"Modok", a voice stated from behind him.
He turned to see his ally standing there in the shadows with his assistant.
"Ah, Schmidt", Modok greeted with a smile, "what a pleasure."
Johann Schmidt did not smile back, but he did step forward, his eyes entranced on the screens before him.
"So you got him", he stated as he also ran his fingers over the screen, but on the form of Steve Rogers rather than Toni Stark.
"We did, as you requested. Tell me Schmidt, what do you want them for? Obviously, you know why I wanted Hammer and Stark and those they cared about, but why Rogers and the rest of the avengers?"
Johann Schmidt smiled as he turned back towards the door. When he was almost there, he stopped and tuned to face Modok.
"You will soon find out", he replied, "and Modok, do not call me Schmidt again. My name is the Red Skull."
With those words, the man and his associate walked out. Modok could only glower as he turned back to watch the avengers. Soon, he would put his own plan into action and he doubted even the "Red Skull" would be able to stop him.
"Soon", he replied smirking as he stared at the virtual image of Stark, "Very soon."