Hey guys! I'm baaaaccccckkkk! I'm so sorry for such a long long long update, my life has gotten insane lately! I've been neck deep in school work and practice and I've literally had no free time and unfortunately this story got put on the back burner. I'm going to try and update again soon, but no promises. Without further ado here's chapter ten of Cold As Ice!
Chapter Ten: Black Widow
It's been about six hours since the Red Skull decided to pay us a visit and things have gone from bad to worse. It's been three days and one hour since we've been captured and everyone has become incredibly weak, even Steve and Thor have shown signs of severe dehydration. Bruce is barely conscious and he hasn't spoken for hours, Clint is in pretty bad shape also and he tries to get up and move around but I don't let him, he's so weak that all he can do is mumble something in resistance. Luckily he still extremely aware and can hold a coherent conversation, much to the contrary of Banner. The lack of water started to get to me a while ago; my skin is extremely dry and cool to the touch and my thirst is nearly unbearable. Our unfortunate situation has done a number on all of us and I'm not sure how much longer any of us will last. Which is exactly why Tony's plan has to work. Unbeknownst to our enemies, they accidentally didn't remove all of the pieces of his suit. The billionaire had pulled a very valuable part off of it whenever he fell down the chute all those days ago and hid it in his jeans. The part that he'd taken was a device that he'd invented that, when placed next to a power source of any kind, would short out all of the electronics and cause a small concussive blast that would disable anyone within fifty feet after a ten second delay. He assured us that we'd be completely safe behind the walls of our cell. It was, in his words, "a very awesome invention created by yours truly to help save the world". Unfortunately it was only a prototype and, when removed from the suit, it takes twenty-two hours to become fully operational. Even though the device has been fully charged for some time now, we haven't had the chance to plug it into a source of power since we've been stuck in here. That and the fact that almost everyone's become too weak to fight our way out of here. I glance over at Clint, who's lying on the ground in a fitful sleep. It hurts me to see him like this, to see any of them like this. I've always seen them as being so strong and unbeatable, but now as I look at my friends in their weakened state; I can do nothing but worry. They look vulnerable, they look broken. If there's one thing that I've learned from my years of being an agent it's that being vulnerable means being beaten, being killed, and right now I'm afraid that that is a very real possibility. We've been trapped here for over seventy-two hours with no food or water and countless injuries; if our enemies decided that it was time for our lives to end, that'd be the end of it. We'd be dead in a heartbeat. We need to do something and we need to do it now, before it's too late. As if on cue, I hear something dripping. I jump to my feet, which is a really bad decision due to my lack of nourishment and I'm temporarily seeing spots. When my discomfort subsides I search for the source of the sound and I cry out in relief when I see a trickle of water flowing from a crack in the wall. Steve turns to me after my outburst and he too sees the water. Immediately he gets everyone else's attention and soon the six of us are huddled around the small stream. Cap reaches out to collect some of the liquid, when Tony speaks up.
"Are you sure that's safe to drink, I mean we've got no clue where it's coming from." Always the voice of reason. Unfortunately we don't have time for reason and logic. Steve voices my thoughts.
"Tony we don't have a choice, if we don't get water soon we'll die. And as far as I can tell this is the only option we have." Reluctantly Stark nods. Captain America once again reaches out, letting the water collect in his palm before emptying it into Bruce's mouth, who was literally too weak to even lift his hand. There's an immediate effect on the man and I can see the doctor's eyes light up as soon as the liquid has entered his system. The rest of us begin taking turns getting a drink and soon all of us have had our fill. After spending so much time without water I can literally feel my strength returning the second I swallow it. I can see that it's had the same effect on the others as well. Now that we've at least quenched our thirst, we need to get out of here before another problem surfaces. Almost on cue, I hear a noise by the door and I glance over at Tony, who quickly opens his palm to reveal the device. I watch as he hands it to Thor and the Asguardian tucks it into his pocket while he waits for the right opportunity to strike. Clint has picked up on our plan and glances at me, eyes questioning. "Are you sure about this?" His silent inquiry goes completely unnoticed by the others and I'm thankful for that, because quite honestly I'm not sure whether this is going to work or not. My reservations aside, I have faith in Tony and proceed to express my faith to Clint with a nod. He sees right through my lie and frowns. He opens his mouth to speak but before he gets the chance to get any words out, Trickshot comes sauntering. Barton's muscles automatically tense as if all his energy has returned to him at the sight of his enemy. The villain notices his apprehension and smiles.
"Excited to see me Clint? Well I guess it's a shame that I'm going to have to kill you soon then."
"You'd be doing me a favor, it'd save me from having to see your ugly face every day. Even with the mask on your ugly mug could crack a mirror, or four." My partner snickers at the man and, in true Barton fashion, spits on Trickshot's shoes. An angry growl escapes the intruder's threat and, before I can stop him, kicks Clint in the side. He slumps down slightly before staring right back at the villain, a small chuckle slips past his lips.
"Still worth it." Unknown to our captor, Thor had chosen to use Clint's encounter as a distraction and the blonde Asguardian has slipped quietly out the cell, unnoticed. That is, until Red Skull's shout of rage could be heard throughout the entire compound. The unexpected noise catches Trickshot off guard and I decide to take advantage of his disorientation and make my move. I launch myself at the man, quickly wrapping my arms around his neck in a chokehold. The other Avengers jump into action and begin fighting off anyone who tries to enter the small cell. Suddenly Thor comes careening in through the door and before anyone can say a word he shouts.
"Everybody get down!" Not needing to be told twice, I dive onto the floor and throw my arms over my head. No sooner had I done this than the entire wall explodes, sending chunks of concrete flying in all directions. After the dust settled, all is silent. I slowly sit up, being careful not to hit any particularly unstable looking pieces of the wall. I blink a few times to clear the dust from my eyes and I turn to see Tony, Steve, Thor, and Bruce all crawling out from underneath the rubble. We stare at each other in silence for a few moments. A cough sounds behind me and I turn just in time to see Clint scooting out from under some debris.
"A small concussive blast huh? What happened to 'we'll all be safe behind the cell walls'?" The archer says in mock annoyance, but I can see the smile creeping into his features. He's happy that we're alive, as he should be. My thoughts are interrupted by Steve's voice echoing throughout the room.
"We need to get moving before any of them regain consciousness and come looking for us." The rest of us nod and begin to walk through the gaping hole in the wall that used to be the door. The carnage that awaits us in the hallway is nothing short of incredible. There's debris everywhere and the only visible evidence of people are random body parts sticking out from under the concrete. We quickly divert our gaze away from the scene and take off in the other direction to where, we hope, the exit is. I don't even glance back at the now demolished cell that only moments ago was our prison.
Well that's it for Chapter Ten. I really hope you enjoyed it! Again I'd like to apologize for the long update and that I'll try and update again soon. Reviews are welcome and (in fact I'd really appreciate it) Thank you so much for reading this story.