A/N. Hi :) This chapter's kind of short but I hope you like it! Anyway, I noticed that I pretty much totally abandoned Tania's POV which I tried REALLY hard not to do in the first two stories but for this one it's kind of necessary to know what the others are up to in order to understand the plot. I'll try and go back to Tania the next time we check up on Stania (which actually won't be for a couple chapters... I think) besides this one. And to anyone who's confused, Tania can talk, she just... doesn't want to. She feels like if she talks, she's breaking. It's hard to explain but I'll do my best when her POV comes around. So withot further ado, comes the promised returning JARVIS POV! Yay! Enjoy :D
WARNING: Mentions of torture in here. Nothing graphic (in my opinion). But there's torture. Just saying.
CHAPTER XXVIII
JARVIS was (for lack of a better word) panicking. Because he was an AI, he didn't sleep. Sure, he needed power to function but the comms never needed recharging. In any case, Steve and Tania were getting some much needed sleep while JARVIS kept watch for this very reason.
From hacking into the cameras, the super computer could see a HYDRA soldier entering the room quietly. He carried no food and a multitude of weapons. JARVIS detected from his body language that he was not here to do anything that Captain Rogers and Miss Banks would particularly like.
From the moment she had fallen into the water, JARVIS had been internally freaking out. To have one of his "operators" die on him would be… incomprehensible. It would change everything. Not that he couldn't adapt to change, he was a computer after all, but it was that… well… change wasn't something he was… fond of. Miss Banks dying would definitely put a huge dent in things.
He had been scanning her body every few seconds, making sure her heat never stopped – it didn't. But it had become increasingly slow until one of the men had started performing CPR and saved her life. If JARVIS could breathe, he'd have let out a sigh of relief right then and there. She was alive. All her bodily functions were working properly but she hadn't spoken in days.
If he could have been worried, he would be. He supposed that most humans would call his present state, "worried", even though that wasn't possible considering he was an AI. He didn't feel emotions. They just wouldn't compute.
Although Mr. Stark had imbedded a program for simulated sarcasm and a little bit of a conscience, JARVIS had yet to find proof that he had actual feelings.
But back to the topic at hand, he had to do something to wake up his two sleeping operators else something bad should happen. "Miss Banks? Captain Rogers?" When he wanted to, he could speak to them both at the same time by projecting his voice through both of their comms at the same time. Neither of them stirred. He added a bit more volume and vibration into the machine's in their ears. "MISS BANKS. CAPTAIN ROGERS."
The soldier grabbed Miss Banks' forearm and yanked her forward just as Captain Rogers' eyes snapped open. He lunged forward instinctively but the chains held him back and he fell on his face.
She began kicking and fighting and clawing but she was dragged out of the room forcefully by the anonymous henchman. The Captain was left lying on his stomach, panting, in the darkness. He shouted in frustration and pounded his fist against the ground, not caring that it hurt to do so.
"I will keep an eye on her for you, Captain Rogers," JARVIS promised, using a saying that only applied to humans (because he didn't have eyes) to better simulate the feeling of not being alone, even though he was. Even though the super soldier couldn't thank him because of the cameras, the AI was aware that he was eternally grateful simply from the slowing of his heart.
In Tania's comm, JARVIS hacked into the cameras and watched – just as he'd said he would. Miss Banks was thoroughly searched (and JARVIS noticed that the men lingered in certain places longer than necessary) before she was roughly shoved and tied to a chair. Without her knife and without her Captain, they knew she couldn't escape.
The two minions spoke to each other in German which JARVIS was couldn't translate without connection to the internet which was being blocked by the signal barrier HYDRA had set up. They nodded to each other before one of them grabbed the hair at Miss Banks' scalp and yanked her head back. She gritted her teeth but didn't make a sound.
The man spat on her and said something threatening in German before the other man approached her with a tool that JARVIS was able to identify as a very large form of tweezers. Her eyes widened and if JARVIS could have felt horror, he would be feeling it now. The man with the tool shoved it in her mouth and clamped down on a tooth before pulling.
Her scream was the first noise she'd really made in days and the AI would have much preferred that it hadn't been said because of pain. But that was not the way it was. With a horrifying yank, the man stumbled back with one of her molars between the tweezer's arms.
Blood spewed from her mouth and she spit it in the other henchmen's face before using her foot to smack the same place.
"I would not suggest provoking them, Miss Banks," JARVIS warned her with a slightly shaky voice. It was just a simulation. He did not have actual feelings. Mr. Stark simply programmed him to make it sound like he did.
She didn't answer. The man she had kicked held his cheek and swore in Russian. Well, that was JARVIS' best guess. He slapped her across the cheek and with the pain from the tooth they'd just removed, she cried out and spat out more blood.
The other man tossed the tweezers aside and approached her cautiously. He mumbled something in German before tilting her head to the side, this way and that. Suddenly something shined in the light. JARVIS knew what the man had seen.
"Oh dear…" he said into her ear before the Nazis began to work on painfully removing her newly discovered comm. Within seconds, JARVIS was cut off from her, unable to communicate his reassurances. The camera feed stopped for a second but he quickly re-hacked it through Captain Rogers' comm. Even if he didn't want to watch.
From Steve's position on the floor, he could hear Tania's screams through the walls. He clenched his fists in anger. They were torturing her – and within earshot; just because they wanted to torture him. Oh yes, there were many things worse than death.
A while later, he didn't know how long, she was thrown back in. He crawled forward, hating the chains that held him at bay with everything he had. He couldn't reach her. His arm outstretched and he pulled, tearing at his skin and embedding marks into his wrists but he didn't care. He barely felt it.
She was still conscious and she rolled over with a groan. She looked him in the eyes and he stopped struggling. Her mouth and ear were both bloody and she had bruises all along her arms and legs and both her cheeks were red from repetitive slaps to the face. But her eyes told him that she wasn't as low as she was before – she had stayed strong… for him. She was still broken, but she was not separated. She had all the pieces, she just had to put them back together with help from Steve.
She shakily dragged herself across the floor to reach him. Every move was agonizing, but Steve was in sight and within reach and that was all she cared about. When she reached him she collapsed and rolled onto her back with a sigh. His worried, upside down face engulfed her vision and she smiled at him weakly. It was barely a twitch of her lips but he saw it and he knew. He understood immediately.
She had fought back. She hadn't let them win or get the best of her. Even if she'd given the satisfaction of hearing her screams, she hadn't let them think that she cared. Because she didn't. If they really wanted to torture her, they would torture him. But they didn't want to torture her, they wanted to torture him. Because in hurting her physically, they hurt him emotionally, but they couldn't hurt her emotionally (anymore) because she had been to Hell and back and she knew that there wasn't much worse than that. This hadn't been as bad as "dying" and she was strong enough to hold on.
He was so, incredibly, proud of her. He returned her smile with little more force than she did and moved her head onto his lap. She reached up and brushed a strand of stray hair away from his eyes before cupping his cheek (which was kind of awkward to do because she was looking at him upside down). He hadn't shaved in several days and she could feel the stubble growing on his face. It was a good look on him – but she preferred him clean shaven. Not that that was an option at this point.
He closed his eyes and leaned into her touch. They would not be broken or torn apart. They would rise above them all because their love was stronger than anything those HYDRA soldiers could ever know. They would get through this. The million dollar question was how long it was going to take.
Tony and Rhodey landed back at the German base after an entire night of searching with no luck. With JARVIS' help, Tony was able to remove the War Machine suit with ease, as was Rhodey with the Iron patriot.
Once armour-free, Tony stomped off with his best friend close behind. "Tony, wait-"
"Wait for what? For Steve and Tania to get killed? For them to totally get wiped off the face of the planet? For my suits to die out? For me to grow old with age and die?"
"Tony, I understand you're upset-"
"I'M NOT UPSET!" he shouted, whirling on the military man before exhaling curtly. "I'm just…"
"Pissed?"
"Fuck yeah I'm pissed."
"Tony-"
"When are we going to find them, Rhodes? I'm getting impatient."
Rhodey sighed in frustration at getting repeatedly interrupted. "Tony…" he paused to see if he would get cut off again. The billionaire remained silent. "You have to accept the possibility that Steve and Tania might not be co-"
"LALALA I CAN'T HEAR YOU! LALALALALALA!" Tony plugged his ears and strode away in childish denial.
Rhodey sighed again before following him to the designated meeting room of the Avengers. The others had all fallen asleep there waiting for him since yesterday.
Clint had fallen asleep face first on the couch, spread eagle, and was snoring loudly. Natasha sat underneath his legs with head resting against the back of the chair and breathing deeply. Bruce sat in one of the chairs around the round table with his head on his desk, papers strewn all over the surface. Thor was lying across four chairs in a row on his back with one arm dangling over the side and touching the ground – he too, was snoring loudly. Peter slept in the chair next to Bruce (the only one left) with his head thrown back like Natasha's and a whistling nose.
As soon as Tony burst in, they all jumped up. Clint and Natasha (being the master assassins they were), immediately had their hidden guns whipped out and aimed at the supposed threat.
Tony and Rhodey both raised their hands in surrender and peace and the guns were lowered. Bruce yawned before speaking. "God damn it Tony, you kept us up all night waiting for you! Where have you been?" He spun around in the chair to face him while Thor plucked himself up from the ground on which he'd rolled over and face planted.
Tony ignored him before plopping himself down on one of the chairs Thor had vacated and crossing his legs, leaning his chin on one hand while he elbow rested on the arm rest. Rhodey rolled his eyes and approached Bruce and Peter, answering for his friend. "We were searching all night. Tony wouldn't rest. I eventually had to call in the big guns to get him down?"
"Pepper?"
He nodded.
"So I assume you've come up with nothing, then?"
"You assume correctly."
The doctor sighed and rubbed his eyes with his index finger and thumb tiredly. "This is getting us nowhere…"
"It got us here, which is probably a lot closer than where we were before," Natasha pointed out.
"But if we can't find them then coming out here was totally pointless!" He banged his forehead onto the table. "I don't know what to do…"
Fury walked in a moment later, looking as put together as always. He couldn't say the same for the others. He cleared his throat. "Avengers, there has been a murder attack in Berlin. In fact, it's still going on. We need three of you to investigate."
"In case you haven't noticed, Furious George, we're a little busy," Tony said without looking at him and waving his hand in circles carelessly.
Fury didn't react to the nickname. "It may interest you to know that the target is Arnold Austerlitz' wife."
Everyone perked (twitched) a little at the news. "Tony and I should go," Natasha said, standing up. "We've already met her, we have the most experience with her. Clint should take St… should be our third man."
If anyone noticed her slip up, no one said anything. Steve had been with Tony and Natasha in Berlin when they interrogated Magda Austerlitz. But he wasn't here. Clint was the next best thing.
Fury nodded. "Agent Hill will brief you on the quinjet there. If at all possible, bring Mrs. Austerlitz here for interrogation."
"And the kids?"
"Bring them as well."
Natasha nodded and she and Clint spoke in sync. "Yes, Sir."
Tony threw his arms up in the air. "Do I not get a say in this? No? Fine. I'll go. But not because you told me too. Because this is something to do and to occupy my time and because this could be a lead in our case. Alright, I've decided. Move out, troops! Or rather troop."
When Tony was gone along with Strike Team Delta (Clintasha), Fury turned to the rest of them. "Dr. Banner, see if you can better triangulate the accuracy of those coordinates you started."
He nodded and turned back around to face the table.
"Agent Parker, help him in any way you can."
"Right-O!" The teenager saluted before wheeling closer to Bruce.
"Thor, continue the search in the bad part of town here," Fury gestured to the paper map covering the entire wall to the left and circled a certain area with his hand. "Feel free to use teleportation, but don't draw attention to yourself."
"I shall not let you down, Director." Thor stood up, yawned, and walked away, ducking through the "short" doorways.
"Hold it. Lt. Col. Rhodes will be coming with you."
Rhodey nodded, gluing his feet together and pushing his shoulders back. "Sir."
"Go find the Captain and his girlfriend."
Rhodey and Thor left to follow orders, leaving Fury, Bruce, and Peter in their wake. Fury watched for a few minutes before he turned and left the room. The two of them were working themselves to death in there. He stopped an agent in the hallway.
"What do you do on this ship, again?"
"I-"
"Whatever it is, drop it and dedicate all your time to feeding and sustaining the Avengers and their companions. Make sure they eat three times a day and shove them in the bathrooms if you have to. Don't question me, just do it."
The Agent nodded warily before stalking off, probably to get food. Fury watched him go and then went to get his own breakfast. Even a super spy needed to eat.