Author's Note: Yep, Hydra. Baron Strucker. It's a thing. I own nothing.
21. Resilience
Tony was shaking. This was so much worse than anything he could have imagined. Hydra had his daughter, had had her for four hours ten minutes and fifteen seconds. It didn't matter to him if they'd taken her because she was his kid, or because they'd figured out who Spidergirl was, or even if it was because of the Osborn brat. All he cared about was getting her back, now. He had JARVIS searching for any sign of the helicopter that had disappeared out of New York's airways just after taking the two teens onboard. Steve was standing at the front of the room at the moment talking to Natasha.
"Nothing yet?" Natasha shook her head. Sam Wilson stood off to the side. He stepped over to Steve with a glance at Tony who was pacing.
"Listen I know the kid is important but we haven't been able to dig up anything on Hydra since SHEILD fell. Just that a lot of the rats didn't go down with the ship. We have nothing to go on. Have we thought about what happens if we don't find her?" Tony's head snapped up, ice in his eyes as he stared at the newcomer.
"Not an option preschool." Sam nodded slightly.
"I know that, but we need to be prepared." Tony stepped up to Sam glaring at the man.
"That is my kid out there. I will tear the world apart to find her if I have to. Not finding her is not an option." Sam raised his hands in surrender. Tony nodded.
"Sam is right about one thing though. We have nothing to go on. They ditched her phone, Harry's too. And both their watches. We need another way to track her." Natasha said stepping forwards eyes daring Tony to argue with her. Someone cleared their throat in the doorway.
"We had an idea about that." The Avengers looked over at the door and spotted Spidergirl's team, sans the girl herself, standing in the doorway. Sam raised an eyebrow. He'd only been to the tower once before and Piper had been out, no one would say doing what. Danny stepped forwards bowing slightly.
"I have a friend, a master of the mystic arts, he may be able to help us track her." Tony snorted.
"Magic? You know what go for it. At this point I'll take all the help I can get." Danny nodded and lead the others out of the tower and towards the New York Sanctum.
Piper spit blood. Baron Strucker sighed as he pulled a handkerchief out of his pocket and whipped at his knuckles. She glared up at him as blood slowly seeped out of the split in her lip.
"This is very simple Miss Stark. Give us the access codes to the armor, the mainframe and JARVIS and we'll let you go." Piper spit again, this time at Baron Strucker. It landed on his shirt and he let out a sigh before backhanding her across the cheek, sending her sprawling as far as the chains would let her. He was way too strong for a normal human. He smiled at her slightly.
"You're quite resilient, I'll grant you that. Stubborn just like your father. Though he's not really your father is he, no matter what the rags America calls magazines would have the world believe." Piper struggled back to her knees. There was a knock at the door and the Baron Strucker sighed.
"Come in." The door opened and a man in black tactical gear stepped into the room. The symbol of Hydra was emblazoned over his heart.
"Herr Strucker, there has been a development elsewhere." The man nodded slightly and stepped out into the hallway with the solder. He closed the door behind him and turned to the other man before backhanding him as well.
"No names in front of the captives. What developments? They had better be important, I was in the middle of an interrogation as you well know." The man stood back up straight, ignoring the blood trickling from his nose.
"I am sorry Herr Strucker. It's the twins. The doctors say they have found a serum that they believe will trigger their mutations." Strucker nodded and wiped his knuckles again.
"Very well. I will go back to Sokovia. Let her stew with her injuries for an hour or so then send in another interrogator but don't kill her. Minor injuries are fine but she's of more use to us alive. What of our other guest." The solder nodded, falling into step behind Strucker.
"He has been surprisingly compliant after we threatened the girl in front of him." Strucker smiled and nodded.
"I believed that to be the case. And the ransom video has been delivered?" The solder nodded.
"Yes Herr Strucker." He nodded and stepped onto the elevator.
"Good, make sure my orders are carried out. I'll return once I'm not needed in with the twins." The man gave him the two armed salute Hydra used and turned to carry out his orders as Strucker took the elevator up to the small shed that was the only entrance and exit of the compound. There was a helicopter waiting for him as he stepped out of the small room. He smiled. The Avengers would never think to look here. The Petersburg State Forest Preserve was just over a thousand acres and nearly seven feet beneath that sat the New York Hydra Compound. It wasn't all that big, staffed by a regiment of only one hundred and fifty, it was more of a waypoint for items and indeed people Hydra deemed important enough to take. Once he got back from Sokovia he would be moving the teens. Each to a separate facility, the boy somewhere where he could be held without causing any problems, until they drained Oscorp of all its resources. After that they wouldn't need him anymore.
The girl was something else though. She had never once shown any pain or discomfort as he questioned her. He knew he'd broken at least one of her toes, stamping down on them with steel toes boots. But she hadn't even flinched. She was well trained. He wondered idly if any of his old contacts at the Red Room had any positions they were looking to fill. The girl would be the perfect candidate, after a bit of reprograming. The Winter Solder had gone AWOL after the fall of SHEILD, they'd need someone new to help shape the world, who better than the daughter of an Avenger. He smiled to himself as the chopper took off for an airfield in New Jersey.
Piper couldn't tell how much time had passed. It could have been minutes or hours but the man, Herr Strucker, didn't return. She needed to move now, before they came back. She was not a damsel to sit in distress and if they really were Hydra then nothing good could happen if she stayed. She had to find Harry and get the hell out of here. She took a deep breath and grabbed the thumb on her right hand yanking hard. A crack resounded around the room as she managed to dislocate her thumb and pull her right hand out of the cuff with only a little difficulty. She whimpered slightly as she snapped her thumb back into place. Then after a moment waiting to see if some alarm had been raised she repeated the process with her other hand. She looked around for nay kind of weapon but found nothing. She swore slightly. The cuffs were welded to the stake but it seemed to have shaken loose during her beating. With a little bit more than human strength she yanked it free and lobbed it through the one way glass. She leapt into the small room adjoining the one where she'd been held and snagged a long shard of shattered glass from the floor before slipping out of the unlocked door.
Dr. Strange had been more than happy to assist when Danny explained the situation to him. It didn't take him too long to preform the spell either since Danny had thought to bring Piper's mask as something she cared about a great deal. A few words were spoken over a map as Spidergirl's mask floated between Dr. Strange's hands. A bright point of light appeared on the map and Dr. Strange opened his eyes.
"There." He said pointing to the now burned spot on the map. Danny nodded thanking his friend and taking up the map. The team headed back to Stark Tower.