A/N. Hi there :) We're back to Stania again for a short period of time, yay! And just so you guys know, we're getting near the end. The climax should be within the next few chapters and then we just tie everything up with a bow, put an epilogue, and BAM. Third story completed. Anyway, enjoy :D

CHAPTER XXXII

Tania and Steve were asleep once again, lying in their cell with nothing better to do since Tania refused to talk. It wasn't that she couldn't, she just… felt like she couldn't. If she opened her mouth, she was afraid that all of her fears and everything she had worked so hard to repress would come spilling out in her words. Her throat was sore and dry from when she had inhaled several mouthfuls of water and she was afraid that it would hurt to speak. Talking just… scared her, right now. If she didn't talk, she couldn't provoke the enemy. If she didn't talk, didn't open her mouth, she couldn't swallow water and die. If she didn't talk, Steve wouldn't know how scared she was. How broken and scarred she felt on the inside.

She felt like a shell of her former self. You know how a snake can shed its skin? She felt like the skin that had just been shed. But since the drowning three days ago, (the times gunshots helped to decipher how many days they'd been stuck there: five days. It's been five days that they've been stuck in this prison. It felt like so much longer.

Tania snuggled in closer to Steve, burying her face deeper into Steve's neck and pretending that she wasn't here, pretending she was back at the Tower with her family. This "pretending" eventually led to an actual dream about her family, which she welcomed gladly.

Tania sat in the lounge of the Tower playing Super Smash Brothers with Graham, Tony, and Clint – and she was kicking their asses. Steve sat next to her, Bruce, Betty, Pepper, Natasha, and Thor sat around on the white sectional in a circle around the TV and cheered them on.

"OHH" she shouted and fist pumped when it turned out that she won.

Graham, Tony, and Clint groaned and fell back on the couch at the same time. "How does she do that?" Tony whined.

"I don't know," Graham mumbled.

"It's because Princess Zelda is bad ass!" Tania gloated, crossing her legs and handing her controller to Steve, who was blushing and trying to refuse to play. She simply shushed him and began teaching him the controls on the Wii Remote and he seemed to catch on really quickly.

Round two: Steve as Link vs. Natasha as Ike vs. Bruce as Bowser vs. Pepper as Kirby. The four of them began mashing buttons at top speed. Natasha seemed to be winning. But then Steve broke the smash ball and sent her hurdling off the screen along with Pepper and Bruce. And then time was up and he won.

Tania cheered while everyone else gaped and/or groaned. She quickly kissed him on the cheek before the remotes were passed around again.

Round three: Betty as The Ice Climbers vs. Thor as Captain Falcon vs. Tony as Samus vs. Bruce as Sonic.

The playing of the video games continued for the entire dream. It was a pretty pointless dream of something that never happened but if anyone asked, Tania would always cherish it. It gave her hope.

She smiled in her sleep. Something poked her arm. She bolted upright. Not another torture session, please! But the only person there was Klaus. Well, and Steve. But he was still sleeping. Man he was a deep sleeper.

Klaus handed her a pen and paper while holding his glow stick. "I need to talk to you."

She took the pad slowly. She nodded at him.

"Why did you go back in time?"

She began scribbling immediately before she showed him the paper. It was an accident. We didn't mean to.

"So you just ended up coming back to the forties at random?"

That was the date on the machine. Howard Stark must have set it that way. Time travel is too confusing to try to explain, let alone on paper.

"How long were you there?"

About a month.

"And you two are still together?"

Obviously. Now can I ask YOU a question?

"Sure, I guess."

Why do you follow HYDRA?

"What do you mean?"

Let's say hypothetically that you wanted to quit. Could you?

Klaus frowned. "No. HYDRA is more than an organization. Think of it as a cult."

So once you're in, you can't get out?

"Yes."

Do you want out?

Klaus did a double take when he read her question. "Out? Do I-? What? Th-that's a ridiculous question!"

But do you?

He was silent for a very long time. "A long time ago, I was sent to attack Brooklyn, NY; the hometown of HYDRA's greatest enemy, to avenge the Red Skull's death. I was to grab hostages if possible. I tried to nab this one woman, but she fought a lot harder than I thought she would, knew more moves than almost any one woman I had ever met. And with the help of her husband, I was knocked out and captured for interrogation.

"The same woman interrogated me. She was witty and sharp tongued when she wanted to be and she was sarcastic and had a sense of humour. I decided I liked her, so I told her about the bomb on my chest because I didn't think she deserved to die.

"I was cast out into the ocean on a submarine, one hundred percent ready to die. But then I was found by the other HYDRA submarines and they took the bomb off me and left it on the ship, painting revenge on every square inch of it before they took me to theirs and we took off. The submarine exploded to make the girl and her friends think that I had died.

"The people that saved me. They told me I owed them a debt. That I would spend the rest of my life paying it back. I believed them. A few years later, in the early fifties, HYDRA disbanded. I mistakenly thought that meant I was free. I was – for a long time. But in May of two thousand and twelve, they got back together, an organization made up of the children of the original HYDRA members who wanted revenge on Captain America for killing Johann Schmidt.

"I was forced back into the organization I had tried so hard to forget; spent my whole life trying to make up for. Despite my age, they considered me useful because I had been part of the original group. The Neo Red Skull thought me valuable. So here I am. My kids think I'm on vacation." He looked down at his hands in his lap.

Tania was scribbling furiously. So you cleaned up your act only for you to get dragged back in here?

He nodded. "Basically."

Can you help us escape?

He backed away a little and stared at her warily. "No. Neo Red Skull will have my head!"

Please! You're all we've got right now. Okay that was technically a lie. She was one hundred percent sure that the Avengers were looking for them, but who knew how long it would be before they were actually found.

"Miss Banks… I can't." He shook his head vigorously. "It's too risky! They'll kill my kids! My grandchildren! He'll kill them all! Just like he did Austerlitz."

The Austerlitz family is dead?!

Klaus nodded. "Because he is dead, Schmidt sent out five assassins to take down his wife and three children."

Tania raised a hand to her mouth, horrified. She returned her pencil to paper. If you help us, the Avengers will make sure that you and your family will be safe.

"You can't promise me that. I'm sorry but I have to go." He ripped the pad out of her hand just as she finished writing the word "But" and rolled out of the room.

Tania sighed and leaned back onto Steve's shoulder. He stirred, bringing her closer to him in his sleep and nuzzling the top of her head with his nose. She smiled a tiny smile and wrapped her arms around his neck.

On the helicarrier, Natasha stood in the interrogation room in front of Magda Austerlitz, who was finally ready to answer some questions. The Black Widow was dressed in her SHIELD uniform and fully armed, so as to seem more intimidating. She had her hip cocked and her arms crossed as she stood in front of Magda, who sat in a chair with her hands in her lap and fidgeting nervously.

"Mrs. Austerlitz, you know who I am, right?"

She nodded. "You are Natasha Romanoff, of the Avengers."

"Right. And you know what I do for a living, correct?"

Magda gulped. "Assassinate?'

"Correct. Now. Knowing all of that, I'm going to have to ask you some tough questions and I'm going to need you to answer them all with complete honesty. Can you do that?"

"Yes Madam Romanoff."

"Good. Did you know your husband worked for HYDRA?"

"Yes. He worked for them back in the nineteen forties, during the second world war."

"But did you know that these business trips he's been going on have been for HYDRA?"

Magda's eyes widened and she shook her head rapidly. "No! No, I- I didn't!"

"Hm… well he's been trying to kill Captain America's girlfriend for over a week now."

"But… but he told me he was at a business meeting!"

"He was an electrician. What business could he possibly have?"

"He- he told me he got a new job."

"When?"

"Umm…" she scrunched up her eyebrows, "back in September, I think."

"That was when Captain America and Tania Banks announced their relationship to the public. That's when HYDRA started plotting to take her down. And I guess he wasn't technically lying. He did get a new job – working for HYDRA."

Magda covered her mouth with her hand and sobbed. "This can't be true! You're lying!"

"I'm not. I swear to you on my life that this is all the truth."

"But he's a good man! He wouldn't hurt a fly!"

"Well he did. He put a knife to Tania's throat and tried to take her away from us. But he failed. We think he's in Hamburg at a secret HYDRA base. I don't suppose you can tell us where he is? Something that could us to him maybe?"

Magda thought long and hard while trying to repress her sobs. "I- No… I don't think so. He said he was going to a business meeting across town at the hotel. I haven't seen him since. That's all I know, I swear! I don't know anything HYDRA or Captain America or anything of the like!"

Natasha looked her up and down, searching for tells. She found none. The red head pulled up a chair and sat down in front of the blonde. "Magda. Your husband is dead."

She gasped. "No! No it can't be!"

"I'm afraid so. Captain America killed him himself when trying to escape the prison they're keeping him in."

Magda stood up and began pacing. "NO! He's not-! He can't be-! He wouldn't lie-! I… I… I just…" she fell to her knees and cried, burying her face in her hands.

Natasha stood up as well, eyeing the hysterical woman on the floor. It was obvious that she wouldn't be able to answer any more questions. Not that she knew any of the answers. She was completely clueless. Useless to their case.

Natasha turned and exited the room. Clint was in the next room over, talking and playing with the kids while at the same time trying to see if they knew anything about their dad, like overheard something they weren't supposed to hear.

He came out at the same time she did and shook his head. "No luck. You?"

"None. Did you tell them he's dead?"

Clint rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly. "No."

She sighed exasperatedly. "Clint…"

"They're just kids! I didn't want to be the one to break it to them."

"Someone has to."

"Yeah and it's not going to be me."

"Whatever. You ready to tell the others?"

"Uh… no?"

She rolled her eyed and grabbed his elbow. "Come on, let's get this over with."

Needless to say, there were several overturned chairs (Tony), some charred walls (Thor), some spilled tea (Bruce), some random spider webs stuck to the ceiling (Peter), and a very composed Lieutenant Colonel (Rhodes) left in the wake of their confession.

Felicity looked around, confused. "I thought you said I was going to Chicago?" she asked, whirling on the SHIELD agent beside her.
Agent J. Sitwell shrugged his shoulders. "I lied. Welcome to India, Ms. Deed. I hope you don't enjoy your stay," he said cheerfully before slamming the door to the jet closed and flying away.

Felicity gaped as they just left her there – without her luggage. She literally had nothing but the clothes on her back. "GET BACK HERE YOU LITTLE FUCKTARDS! COME HERE AND LET ME GAUGE OUT YOUR EYES!" She shouted at the sky. She huffed before entering the city streets. Holy crap, there were people EVERYWHERE. She kept getting touched and bumped into and almost run over and this place was hot and smelly and she was repulsed by everything.

And then there was a hand on her arm and what she assumed was an Indian SHIELD agent started manhandling her down the road. "Where are you taking me?" she asked.

"To prison, where else?" the guy told her with an Indian accent and a tooth grin.

"Prison?! For what?"

"For giving away SHIELD secrets and assistance in attempted murder."

"Wha-? Attempted murder! That's preposterous! I would never-!"

"Save it, Ms. Deed."

"It's MISS Deed you idiot! Get it right!" she slapped his chest only to realize he was wearing a bullet proof vest.

"Assaulting an officer. That's another few months."

"You're not even a policeman!"

"I work for the government. It's basically the same thing."

"Okay now you're just messing with me. Where's the camera saying this is a prank show?"

He laughed merrily. "This is no prank. You are really under arrest, Ms. Deed."

"But why in India?"

"Didn't you hear? You've been deported."

"DEPORTED? As in, banned from the US?"

"Exactly."

"I've been exiled?!"

"Uh huh."

"How?!"

"I'm afraid your clearance level isn't high enough to know that."

"What's my clearance level?"

"Negative one." He shoved her into a building she hadn't even noticed was there and slammed the door behind her. He chuckled to himself as he locked the door. "Good one, Hank. Negative one." He whistled a happy tune, stuffing his hands in his pockets before walking away.