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Chapter 3:

Broken Will

Toni's head felt like it was on fire, while her lungs felt like there was a brick on her chest. "Urgh," she muttered painfully; her throat felt like sand. Every part of her hurt and she thought she was going to die from the pain. She was familiar with pain as she had experience it before, but this was something different. Something completely different.

Laying on her side, Toni tied to push herself up, but her arms could not support her. Pain shoot through her left arm, making her wonder if it was broken. "Ja.." she tried to call out. Her voice died in throat.

Her eyes lids felt heavy as she tied to open her eyes. "L-lights," she stuttered. She could barely make out anything in the darkness and Toni wasn't sure if was her eye sight or the lights.

"I s-said lights, J-JARVIS," she said. The darkness couldn't be just her eyes, because she could make out odds shapes. Is that the moon? She thought to herself. Did she blow up the ceiling? That would explain why she was in so much pain. "Urgh," she muttered again as pain shot through her head. Out of reflex, her hand flew to her head, and it was wet. Why is my head wet? Did a pipe break? She knew that wasn't right. Water wasn't sticky. She knew she bleeding, and she knew it was bad. It had started to drip down her face.

She had to get help and it was obvious that Jarvis wasn't going to. "S-stupid AI," she muttered. She tried to push herself up again, but she didn't make it. She fell harder again the cold ruff titles. She tried to look up at the moon, so she could focus, but when she looked up, everything started to spin. Her fuzzy vision had gotten worse. Black spots filled her vision. She started to shake as she felt the wind pick up. What happened to the walls? The walls should have provided some kind of protection. Maybe the Device did more damage to the building than she thought, and that frightened her. Her teammates were in the Tower, and she didn't want anything to happen to them.

"He-help," she called out, trying to yelling, but it wasn't anything more than a whisper. She couldn't stay on the ground, waiting for them, because they could be hurt worse than she. Using her fear, she pushed herself up with one arm and looked around. Everything was still fuzzy, but she could make out a few things. Her broken desk and chair lay a few feet from her. The Device, which seemed to be one piece, was a few feet in front of her. The title floor, which looked like it had fallen from the sky, was no longer whole.

Shaking from the wind and weak muscles, Toni struggled to push herself to her knees with one arm. Her left arm was pretty much useless. I can do this, she thought as blood dripped from her head. Her mind started to go and it was getting harder to think. "H-help," she begged, her throat screaming in pain. Her breathing, if possible, was becoming more difficult, which made her take hollow breaths. It hurt to breath in deep.

Her fear had turned to panic as she noticed the fading light coming from her Arc Reactor. No, she cried, as there was nothing she could do. She had never felt so alone and weak. Even when she was tortured for her weapons, she had Yinsen, who had saved her life, but now, the only thing keeping her alive was going out, and there was no one, who could help her. She wouldn't call for help, even in her own house, her home.

Her mind started to go to the dark side. Someone should've come to her; JARVIS should've alerted the Avengers that one of their own was down, but they weren't there. Why did everyone abandon her?

She was going to die alone, which she always knew was going to happen, but she thought maybe she could beat that, since she now had friends. Maybe, she was wrong… Though she was glad that the pain would stop if she died, she didn't want to die and leave Pepper to find her body.

"Help," she yelled, as her body gave out. She fell hard against the ground again, and this time, she didn't try to get up. She was giving up, and she was okay with it for the first time in her life. She had given up before, but that was different. Now, she was done. She was done trying and she was okay with that.

I deserve this for- She never finished her thought as a voice interrupted her peaceful death.

"Miss, are you okay?" She could hear the stranger run to her and she could feel his hand on her. "Please answer me."

Toni shifted so she could glance up at her savior; it was Rogers, and the sight of him made her heart skip… She blinked. He looked different; he looked smaller. Since when did Captain America look like a shrimp? Was the pain really clouding her vision? She wasn't an idiot; she knew she had a concussion, because she had a hard time keeping her mind focus and her head was bleeding. The blood was a big clue. "R-Rogers," she struggled, "what h-happened to you? Y-you…are s-shrimp."

The little Captain lowered himself down to her. "I…I have always been this size," he stated, unsure of himself.

"Don-" Her throat burned. Maybe, she should just shut-up, because she was just hurting herself now. Plus, the lack of air in her lungs cut off her ability to speak.

"Miss!" he sounded startled. "Stay with me, please. Please, stay awake."

Toni had tried to focus on him, but the dark spots started to form in her vision. She closed her eyes. She would focus on his voice, his calm relaxing safe voice. She would never admit it, but she loved to listen to his voice. No, she didn't care for what he said half of the time, but his voice calmed her. She loved its tone and how innocent it sounded. "I-I…c-can't," she stated.

"Someone help, please!" he yelled. "Help!"

She could not get over the pleading in his voice, wondering why he was letting his fear soak through. He was trained to hide his fear when speaking, and though she knew he had fears, she never heard it in his voice. Yes, she had heard annoyance and anger, but not fear. Hiding his fear from his tone, he was able to keep his team calm, which was what she needed. Did her state really frighten him?

Toni felt his hand leave her body, and she feared that she would not feel a comfort of a friend again. Yes, she considered the Copsicle a friend, even if it didn't look like it. She tried to turn her head and see where he had gone, but she couldn't keep her eyes open. "S-Steve," she called out. It wasn't louder than a whisper and there was no way he could have heard him call out.

"Lady!" she heard him call for her, and she could heard more than one voice, but she didn't have time to think about who else it could have been as she had blacked out.

*O*O*

When Toni came to, she knew she was in the hospital and not her tower by the smell and feel of the bed. One reason why she hated hospitals was the beds, which were uncomfortable, smelly, and cheap. Sure, she knew it was a waste of valuable funds, but still. They could at least try, right?

She squeezed her eyes shut as the pain flew through her body. The meds must be wearing off. She tried to move her arms to call the nurses for more meds, but her left arm was in a sling, a clear sign that it was broken. The other was handcuffed to the bed's railing as if she was a criminal. What the fuck? Why would they treat me like that? Sure, she knew she pissed SHIELD and the Avengers off and always had an act of sneaking off, but did they really have to handcuff her? Did they not trust her?

"Guys? This isn't funny," she asked, her throat still burned. The pain almost overtook her. She really needed another dose of medication. She pulled at the handcuffed, but it didn't do anything, and it was stupid to think it would. However, that really didn't stop her as she pulled harder.

"Miss, please calm down," a nurse came flying in.

Toni stared at the woman, who came in with a needle. What the fuck was she wearing? It appeared to be a 1940's something nurse's uniform, which consisted of a white dress with an ugly collar and sleeves and a light blue sweater. "What are you wearing?" She asked. No present day nurse would wear that shit and she knew damn sure SHIELD didn't have facilities like this, noticing how old the room looked like.

"It's called a uniform," the women responded as if Toni was an idiot. She poked her with the needle.

Toni felt her mind start to go a little as the meds started to take over. "A hideous uniform."

The nurse smiled. "If you want to talk about hideous, you should've seen the clothes they brought you in or wait you did." She marked down something on her chart and walked out of the room.

Ouch, Toni thought as she wanted to leap out the bed and attack the unnamed nurse. No one insulted Toni Stark and got away with it, but…right now, she had no choice. She had to take it as she was handcuffed to the bed…and no, it wasn't as fun as the last time she was handcuffed to a bed.

Laying back, she stared at the ceiling and tried to think about her situation, but her stupid hair was irritating her. She had wanted to chop it off, but Pepper wouldn't let her. That woman wouldn't let her do anything and it was exasperating. Toni was a grown ass woman… Urgh! She thought. Since one of her arm was broken, the other was handcuffed and her body was stiff, she was forced to blow her medium black hair out of her face; however, it really wasn't working. Giving up on blowing her hair out of the way, she forced her mind back to work.

She had to figure out where she was and who had her. This hospital room looked nothing like any hospital she been in or seen. It looked like it came from the 1930's or 40's, just like that ugly nurse. The device, which monitored her vitals, looked ancient, and that scared her. If her captors were using out of date equipment, it wasn't good. Maybe, she was a prisoner for some third world villain, but that didn't explain the Captain. Rogers wouldn't betray her, even if she pissed him off.

Then what else could this be? Her mind wandered to the Device she created. Could it be the reason why she was here? One idea came to mind, but that wasn't possible, especially when that wasn't what she had been trying to do. Shaking her head, she paused on the thought. That could be the reason why her never wrong watch, which was missing from her wrist, was wrong…so maybe, it was possible. How else could she explain the 1940's shit and the Shrimp? She thought she imagined the tiny Captain...

The door to her hospital room flew open and a man in military uniform walked in. He was also wearing a 1940's uniform, which added to Toni's theory. Though this could be some giant joke, she wouldn't understand the point of that. Why would anyone try and make someone think they were in the past? What purpose would that solve?

He looks familiar, Toni thought as she took in the Colonel, which she could tell by his uniform. He was an older man, who was balding. "Ello, Colonel," she smiled, trying to figure out where she knew him from. The meds were making it harder for her to remember.

He stared at her. "So what can I call you? Jane Doe does not seem fitting for this conversion." He took the chair form the corner of the room and set down next to the bed.

"Being handcuffed doesn't seem fitting either," she asked, raking her brain for an answer. "So why am I in military custody?"

The Colonel had seen the worst of war. "What can I call you?" He asked, sitting down.

"Toni," she offered. If she was in the past, she wasn't going to give him her last name, and if this was some kind of joke, her captors should already know who she was. No one could forget a face like hers.

"No last name, Toni?" he asked, sounding annoyed as he tapped his fingers against his leg. He didn't have time for this.

"Why am I here, Salty?" she asked. He was fishing for something and she didn't want anything to do with it. "What do you want from me?" She was never the one to beat around the bush.

He looked at her. "The name is Colonel Phillips."

It came at her like a pound of bricks. Howard used to talk about him, whenever he talked about Rogers. This man had helped to produce Captain America. Sure, he wasn't Dr. Abraham Erskine, the man who had created the famous Captain, but he was one of the reasons why the project existed. "Well, Colonel Salty, why am I here?" she teased. He seemed like a salty character to her.

He narrowed his eyes. "You were found trespassing on private property, where it looked like a small bomb went off."

"Isn't that something for cops? And not the US Military?" What could this man want? He wanted something, and Toni didn't want any part in it.

He learned forward and pulled out a clear bag and a yellow envelope. In the clear bag was her cell phone, and in the other were photos of her stupid device. "These are the only things were found on you, and they aren't like anything we seen before."

Toni wasn't one to carry ID as everyone knew who she was and she never needed it. If she did need it, Pepper was the one who always carried it. In this case, she was really glad she didn't. She didn't need him to locate that ID. "They are something I'm working on." What else could she say to that? Where is the Device? She asked herself, not liking that it wasn't here. She didn't need it in the wrong hands.

"I assume this is a communication device," he stated as he stared at the smart phone. "I can't quite get it to work, but that isn't what I am interested in."

She stared at him. Sure, she needed to get her phone back as it obtained information from the future, but she was more concern about her unnamed device. "Where's my other device?" she asked. She needed that device in order to get home. She didn't know how she was going to do it, but she knew that the device was the key… When did she start believing that she was in the past?

"Mr. Stark has it," he stated as he put her phone back into the bag. "I'm sure you know who that is." He put the photo in her lap.

"Of course," Toni snapped. She didn't want her father anywhere near her device, and she would do anything to get it away from him short of killing him.

Phillips laughed. "I see you don't like him, but you're not the only one." He paused. "Is there a reason why?"

Sure, he would be laughing; she bet everyone was laughing at her. Was this some kind of joke from God? "You have taken my private property. I demand it back."

"You don't have a right to demand to have it back."

"I am a United States citizen. You don't have the right to do this to me." Toni was pissed. She knew his title give him the right to do whatever he deemed fit, but that didn't mean he can use that authority on her.

"I don't know if I believe you. You seem like a spy to me, with all of these strange contraptions of yours. Are you working with Hitler?" He asked, seriously. He took a look down at her chest.

"NO!" she denied. Wait, is he looking at my chest? She though, annoyed. "Hey, buddy, my eyes are up here," she said, trying to point at her face. Sure, she didn't mind when men looked at her chest, but that was only when she allowed it. She didn't care for it here.

The Colonel looked insulted. "I was not. I was looking at that thing in your chest." He pointed to the Arc Reactor.

Toni, who had forgotten about her chest piece in her confusion, looked down. She felt like an idiot. How could she forget about that? It was the keeping her alive. "My reactor," she muttered, closing her eyes. When she was in the empty lot, something she could tell from the photos, the reactor was fading in and out. Opening her eyes, she glanced down. It wasn't fading, but it wasn't as bright as it usually was. The Device must've drained it. I should've listen to JARVIS, she thought, feeling stupid. The Arc Reactor was barely visible through the hospital gown, and that wasn't a good sign.

"This reactor," he started, using her word, "is very interesting. It's intergraded into your body. Why is that?" He learned forward in his chair. "When the doctors found that thing, you freaked out not letting them look at it. You had knocked out a few nurses, yelling at them not to touch it."

"I don't remember that," Toni stated.

"You can blame that on the concussion and, the fact that you were out for a week," he stated. "Anyhow, Dr. Erskine and Mr. Stark stated that the piece is keeping you alive." He leaned back in his chair. "So why do you have it in your chest?"

Howard had been here? He had seen her? Closing her eyes, she tried to relax herself, because if her breathing kept at this pace, she would go into a panic attack. Toni Stark did not have panic attacks. "Howard was here?" she asked.

Phillips wasn't an idiot by any shot and noticed her reaction to Stark's name. "He was, and he was quite interested in taking a look at your reactor. He would like to talk to you about it."

"No," she stated firmly.

"You won't have a choice on that."

"We'll see about that." Toni wasn't going to talk to her father.

He stood up and crossed to the windows. "You have never answered my question." Phillips looked back, staring at her for a few minutes. "Why would such a pretty young thing have that in her chest?"

Toni was used to fake comments. "It keeps me alive. That's all you need to know." She wasn't going to go into the history of the reactor with his man or her father.

Sighing, he walked to the door. "I see you aren't going to cooperative with us. I wanted to do this the easy way. I would like not to interrogate a woman. "

Toni snorted, because she hated the easy way. She liked making things difficult. "If you knew me, you would understand. I won't tell you anything and your male chauvinist ways won't help you, asshole." She didn't know what he was looking for, but she knew she wasn't going to give him anything.

"You have a mouth." He took a deep breath. "So be it," he stated as he walked out of the door.

That had the genius worried. She wasn't an expert on 1940's law, but she was sure she wouldn't like the power it gave him. In her time, the law was there to protect the people, but in this time, there was a war going. This country was afraid of Hitler and they would authorize anything to protect themselves.

"This isn't good," she stated. Her throat felt worse than before; she should've just shut-up. "Urgh," she muttered, pulling at the handcuffed. Maybe, she could pick it like she did before when one of her dates left her handcuffed to the bed. It took her a few hours, but she was able to escape. She could have sworn JARVIS was laughing at her that night.

Fighting through the soreness of her body, she pulled herself into a sitting position and looked around. "What can I use escape this place?" On the dresser in a corner of the room, something caught her attention, but how could she get it? She was tied down.

Kicking off the blanket, Toni shuffled herself to the railing and felt for the leveler to release it. After a few minutes of struggling, she felt the leveler and pushed it in. The railing fell, pulling her down with it. Pushing herself up a little, she stared at the heart monitor. Will these machine alarms go off if I pull these off my chest? If they did, her escape would be blown, but she had to risk it.

After a few seconds, she pulled off the wires and watched the door. As soon as it was clear that no one was coming, she kicked her legs over the bed and stood up. "Fuck," Toni muttered, as she fell straight to the cold hard ground. Her legs hadn't been able to support her weight. She closed her eyes as pain sailed through her body.

Toni took a deep breath, because she knew she could do this. She had to do this, because if she didn't, she would be screwed. Colonel Phillips would be back and he wouldn't be gentle. He wanted answers and he would do anything to get them. She didn't like that idea.

She studied the bed, which didn't have wheels. She would either need to detach the railing of bed or drag the bed, but the latter would be noisy. Someone would hear and stop her, which she could not have. Laying down on her back on the floor, she fought her reflex to jump up. Though her gown was covered more than it did in the future, the back of the gown was still open. Stupid gowns, she thought.

Toni grimaced, forcing her broken arm to move. She wiggled her figures, making sure her hand was still working. Since they were, she knew she could still use them, even if she couldn't extend her arm. However, this bed was made better than she thought, and there was no way she could detached it without tools.

She pushed herself onto her knees and stared at the photos on the bed. She needed to get the device as she had to get it away from her father, who could be screwing it up. He would figure it out sooner or later because of who he was. Sure, she had invented more items than he, but if he was in living in her time, there was no doubt that he would be taking her to school. And she hated that.

Taking a deep breath, she noticed the monitor's plug. I can use that, she thought. She reached for cord and yanked it, catching it in her broken arm. Using her nails, she pulled apart the plug, so she would use the little wires inside. After freeing some of the wires, she turned her attention to the handcuffed. "Fuck," she muttered. God was really playing a joke on her, wasn't he? It was going to difficult to pick free her right hand, using her right hand, but she was going to try. After a few minutes of struggling with it, she had given up using her right hand. Passing the wires to her left hand, she hoped she could do this.

Holding the handcuffed still as best as she could, she struggled getting her left hand into the correct motion. After a few seconds, she took her arm out of the sling, which gave her a little more movement, but the cast was heavy and it hurt to hold it in one place. Toni didn't have a choice; she had to do this and she had to do this now, because she didn't know when she would get another shot.

"Yes," she cheered as the handcuff fell from her hand. Giving standing another try, she pushed herself to her feet, and for a few seconds, she thought she was going to land back on her ass, but she didn't. She felt a breeze on her back as she walked toward the dresser. The thing turned out to be a pen, which could be helpful later if used correctly. "I have to do something about this gown thing."

Toni found another grown and put it on backward to cover her butt. She inched to the door, trying to hear if someone was outside the door. She couldn't hear anything from the other side, but she wasn't sure. The silence could be because there was no one there or she just couldn't hear through the wall.

"Oh, shit," she thought as the door swung up.

The ugly nurse from before came walking to the room with a food tray. When she noticed the empty bed, she dropped the tray and food went everywhere. "Doc-"

She never finished her sentence as Toni grabbed her from behind. After scuffling for a few minutes, they both ended on the ground. "Calm down," Toni whispered as she rolled on top. She had been trained to defend herself, but it was challenging with a broken arm.

"Gua-"

The nurse tried to yell out for help, but Toni couldn't allow her to do that. She knocked her out using cast. "Urgh," she shrieked in pain. She stood up and glanced outside to see if anyone was coming. When she saw no one was coming, she closed the door and turned her attention back to the nurse. She started to undress the nurse. "Now, listen. I'm not going to mess with you. I just need the uniform so I can sneak out of here."

She took a deep breath. "It isn't that you're ugly….or wait it is," she chucked. She switched their clothes and walked out of the room with her head held up high.

*O*O*

Toni had been lucky lately, running into a few people who didn't pay much attention to her, but she didn't have much time. The medical staff and the military personnel would soon notice her disappearance or the screaming nurse, who would wake up soon. She needed to get out of this place before that, but it was like a maze. She had no idea of where the front door was, and there was a good shot that they would find her before she made it.

Rounding a corner, she saw Colonel Salty speaking with Howard Stark, and she froze, unable to motivate herself to move. Howard, who looked different from what she remembered, appeared to be healthy and happy, which Toni couldn't remember in her time with him. He hardly showed a smile, and the last time she saw him, he looked worried and tired about something that Toni wasn't aware of. He didn't speak to her about his troubles.

Howard appeared to be in his early twenties, but Toni couldn't guess his age without knowing the year. It had to be before 1943 as Steve Rogers wasn't Captain America yet. Her mind wandered to Rogers, who she would love to meet before serum. What would he be like? Would he still be a chauvinist ass? Okay, she knew he wasn't a total ass; he was a standup guy. And she knew he had been before the serum because Dr. Erskine wouldn't have picked him if he wasn't. Captain America couldn't be anything but great.

Shaking her head, she returned her attention to the two men in front of her, who had not notice her yet. She had to get away, before they did. If they did, she would be in handcuffs again, but she wouldn't be in a hospital bed. She would be locked in a cell, where the Colonel wanted her.

Keeping her head down, she walked down a different hallway. How many hallways are there? She had to find the way out soon or she would be in trouble. Even if she found the away out, there was no real way to know if she would be able to walk out the door. As she rounded another corner, big glass doors came into view, but Toni didn't have time to cheer as a blazing alarm sounded.

"Fuck," she muttered as the hallway was shadowed in red lights. "Calm down," she told herself. She fought the urge to run, because they would surely notice her running down the hallway. She was dressed as a nurse, someone who was supposed to be here. If she ran around without a head, they would know she wasn't a nurse and she was the escaped prisoner. "Calm down."

Toni glanced around to see if anyone was looking at her, but no one was paying attention to her. They walked past her without a second glance. Taking this as a sign, she walked to the doors with a look in her eyes that said she knew what she was doing. When she reached the door, she took a deep breath. She was about to open the door, when she heard footsteps behind. She was going to ignore them, but the woman's voice stopped her.

"Turn around."

Toni's eye almost twitched as she was almost home free. She could almost taste it. Balls. She knew it wasn't the end as there was a chance she could talk herself out of this situation. She was a talker, just ask anyone. "Is there a problem?" she asked as she turned around.

There in front of her stood Agent Peggy Carter, a person that Toni recognized right away. Though she had only seen Peggy a couple times after her father's death, she considered her very special to her life. Peggy was an important part to her childhood as she had kept her father in line, when she was round. Peggy, the lovable badass agent, wasn't around as much as Toni would have liked, but she was around enough to make a lasting image. She had that personality that anyone could like.

"Is there something wrong, Agent?" Toni asked as she raised her non-broken arm. Peggy had her pistol trained on her, and that was unsettling. Peggy was one of few people she could speak to growing up. "Is this about the alarm?" She had asked with the sweetest voice she could muster.

Peggy studied her. "Yes. A prisoner has escaped."

"Do you believe I'm that prisoner? That's crazy." The gun was still pointed toward her, but it wasn't going to make Toni sweat. This wasn't the first time she had a gun in her face and she knew it wouldn't be the last.

"Yes," Peggy asked without hesitation. "You're good actress."

Toni had a few options she could do, but she wasn't sure any of them would work. "No, I'm just a nurse," she stated, as she tried to look shaken up.

"Toni, why don't you make this easy?" she asked.

Fuck, Toni thought. She knew she was in trouble, because only Salty knew her name. Peggy must have spoken to him and she must have seen her photo. "I do not do easy."

Peggy looked her over as she took a few steps toward her with the gun still trained on her. "Keep your hands where I can see them."

"Like I can do much with this?" Toni stated as she tried to lift her broken arm. The very movement of her arm hurt. Is that medication wearing off already?

"You did beat up a nurse."

"I just knocked her out." Toni raised her right arm in a sign if surrender. "I didn't beat her up."

"You gave her a black eye."

Toni shrugged. "A black eye never killed anyone." She allowed Peggy to take her away, because she knew it was better than to fight with her. Even on her good day, Toni didn't stand a chance again Peggy, who could kick anyone's but.

I hoped you enjoyed this. Updated: