So, here goes another chapter. And it's about to get intense. And I mean way intense! Thank you everyone for all the reviews and support. You have all been AWESOMELY-AMAZINGLY-AWESOME! It's phenomenal!

Chapter Eighteen

Hannah's P.O.V.

The ride in the car was silent. It was only me and the driver on the fastest route to one of the S.H.I.E.L.D. jets; then off to some horrible foster home, where I would be until I turned eighteen. After that, college. And I wasn't going anywhere near New York City. And seeing my aunt and uncle again? Forget it. I never wanted to see their miserable faces again.

I pulled out the picture of my family again. A feeling of warmth at the old memories filled my heart. Then the pain I'd never see them again reminded me how lonely I was. I really was on my own now. I looked down at my feet, lost in thought. So much so, that I didn't even see the car coming toward us at a high rate of speed. I felt the car lurch sideways, the initial impact from my side of the car hitting me with a painful blow.

The car started to flip and I didn't have time to think as my head continually hit random parts of the car. After several flips, the car stopped abruptly on its side. I could see the driver hanging limp, blood dripping from somewhere on his body. I could taste my own blood coming from the side of my head. My whole body felt numb, completely in shock as the seconds ticked by. I didn't even have time to respond as the doors were opened hastily by some unknown people.

"Is he dead?" A male voice asked. I assumed they were talking about the driver. I could see two fingers check his pulse.

"No." A gunshot rang out in response and blood started pouring from the man's head.

"Is she alive?" I heard another voice ask. I saw a pair of eyes on me. I didn't know who these people were or what was going on, but the car accident had left me in a daze.

"Yes. She's still very much with us." Was the answer this time.

"Good. Just what the boss wanted. Injured, but alive." I could feel my seat belt being cut and being hoisted out of the vehicle. I watched as the S.H.I.E.L.D. vehicle stood there motionless, the dead man still inside.

I was placed in the back of another vehicle, a black van with a pair of men inside. They were dressed like the man from the super center and the intruder at the apartment. Two words flashed in my mind: Dark Hand. But why wasn't I moving?

"What kind of damage did we do to her?" The driver asked curiously, climbing in the seat and starting to speed off to some unknown destination.

I could feel one of them check my pulse and examine what I presumed was a gash on my forehead by the way it was bleeding. He pressed somewhere on my side and I nearly screamed because it hurt so much.

"She'll be fine for a while. But she's got a nasty gash on her side by the way she hit everything." One of the men responded. "Boss is going to love the job we did."

Dark Hand. Bad guys. The words flashed brightly in my mind. In a sudden state of panic, I broke out of my daze and started to fight. Pain ripped through my side, but I ignored it as I my fist made contact with one of their faces and kicked the other in the gut. I started to move my way towards the door, only to be dragged back.

"No!" I screamed. "Let me go!"

"Put her out!" The driver commanded. I saw one of them pull out a needle as I struggled against the others tight grip. He jammed it into my skin and everything went dark.

Clint's P.O.V.

Nat and I were following Tony at a high rate of speed. However, traffic was jammed up considerably.

"Hey, you!" Nat yelled to a kid walking down the street. "Do you know why traffic's backed up?"

"There's been a bad hit and run." The young teen explained. "There's someone dead in the car."

That's when my phone rang. It was Fury.

"Barton."

"Did you stop that vehicle?" He sounded furious.

"What?" Nat looked to me

"Did you take that girl back with you?"

"No. Why?"

"That car is thirty minutes late. They should have been here at the plane by now." I nearly dropped my phone.

"Nat, turn on those emergency lights." I ordered. "Head to that accident." Her face showed her fear as she quickly swerved out of the line of traffic and raced off to the scene of the wreck, sirens blaring.

"Clint, tell me it's not her." Nat ordered me as she sped down the street. A lump caught in my throat. How could I tell her something I didn't know for certain? I had done it before in my line of work, but this was harder than I could ever have imagined.

"It's not her." I managed to croak out. But when we saw the car, my words were anything but meaningful.

"No." I said in horror as I got out the car and raced towards the totaled car, the S.H.I.E.L.D. emblem still clearly visible amidst the damage. No one should have been able to survive that accident. And that's what made my blood run cold.

"Sir, you're not allowed to..." I whipped out my badge and shoved it back in my pocket, allowing me access to the vehicle. I looked through the windows, finding a man there with a gunshot wound in the head, dead. I looked through the other windows, but Hannah wasn't there.

"Hannah?" I asked aloud, praying that by some miracle she had walked out alive. But there was no answer.

"Did you see a young lady in the car?" I asked one of the ambulance drivers. He shook his head.

"Only that man there, sir." I was confused. Where was Hannah?

"Clint!" Nat shouted to me from the car. She had opened the backseat side that was very much damaged by the initial hit, pulling out a picture and white piece of paper. The picture was one I easily recognized as her last family picture with her mom and dad. But the piece of paper was not anything that belonged to Hannah. It had been stained with blood on the seat. It read: We've got what you want. You know who we are. Wait for my call.

"No." I said, mortified.

"Guys!" Steve shouted, running down the side of the street, the others racing behind him. They must have jumped out of the car when they saw us racing past them. "Is she in there?"

"No." Nat said grimly, handing him the piece of paper.

"The Dark Hand." I said. She was in the hands of those monsters...and injured. And I was going to stop at nothing to get her back.

Wow. This is not looking good. Please review!