Disclaimer: I do not own the Avengers, only their kids. :)
I'm writing this story with a friend who does not currently have a fanfiction account so this is just me giving her credit for her parts.
Sorry it is taking so long to update this story. I have finals this week and cram studying is currently taking up all my time. Should be updating more soon though!
Bryce POV:
Glancing up from the biology notes, I see Alex and Nate Barton deep in conversation. Not all that odd, considering the secretive nature of the twins, but Nathaniel's worried look, has caught my attention. Nonchalantly putting the listening device my good friend and science partner, Piper Stark, gave me, I listen to their conversation.
"It's not unusual for Stark to miss school, but Rogers? She hasn't missed a day in her life. I wonder where she's gotten too?" Alex whispers and Nate nods. Suddenly, a weaker voice comes in through their bluetooths and they straighten. I strain my hearing to hear what is happening.
"Nathaniel Barton, Alexandra Barton. This is Maria Hill, Fury's second in command. We just received word from Mr. Stark that suspected HYDRA agents have kidnapped Piper Toni Stark and Coulette Miranda Rogers. Mr. Stark is concerned that his daughter is in mortal danger. You two are assigned with finding and rescuing them. You may ask your parents for help, they will instruct you on what to do. You have been excused from classes for the day. Do you copy?" What? Coulette is missing? Not a person on this earth knows it, but I am in love with her. Have been since the first day in Kindergarden. Meeting Piper Stark, who is best friends with Coul, was pretty neat because now we know each other and occasionally talk, but her being kidnapped is not good. The twins nod and weave through the crowd. I get up and follow them, noticing at the same time that Jacob Hill is leaving the cafeteria after the twins. What had that woman's name been? Maria Hill? Could she be Jacob's mother? I didn't really know Jacob that well. He was on the school's basketball team and seemed pretty nice. It is possible that she is his mother, why else would he be following Nate and Alex? Once out of the cafeteria, Nate and Alex run into Mr. Minn. He seems to be accusing them of something before he grabs Alex's arm. She turns on him so fast, she's a blur. She has him knocked out in three seconds flat. Nate busts up laughing before they drive away. Forgetting about my classes, I hop into my beat-up old gray Mazda and truck along after them. For their sixteenth birthday, their parent's got them brand-new, sleek, fast motorcycles. For my sixteenth birthday, my parents bought me an old gray dinosaur. They arrive at their house in no time. I pull up and wait for them to come out. While I am waiting, I notice Jacob's shiny red pickup pull in and park. He is following them! After a few minutes, Jacob leaves and I am left alone. Nate and Alex follow quickly. Once they leave in Nate's old black car, I follow. They stop at some sort of office building where they walk quickly inside. Sliding out of my car, I take my 6'2" frame and peer through the windows. Jacob gives Alex and Nate a set of clothes and some weapons. They leave in the queerest outfits I have ever seen. Nate is in some sort of cargo pant and vest get up while Alex is in a catsuit with a bow and arrows. They jump in their car and speed away. I follow quickly. They arrive at a large group of warehouses some time later. They scale up the building and slip in through the roof. Taking advantage of my height, I climb on some boxes and peer through the window. There is a set of eight cages on the floor, only two of them occupied. Piper Stark is in one, beaten, bloodied, and cringing in pain. At first I gasp at the obvious pain that Piper is in. She clutches her forehead in agony as if she had a massive migraine. My eyes travel to the cage next to her. Coul. She is sitting up and there is blood trickling from a wound in her forehead. Her blonde hair is a mess and there are bruises all over her body. I can see that she is in pain. She glances over at her dark-haired best friend in concern, but I see the slight hint of steely anger in her blue eyes. She is furious with Piper, but too worried about her to confront her yet. Suddenly, Nate leaps from the rafters and runs into battle. Alex lets arrows fly, but a man hefts his gun and shoots Nate in the side. In blind rage, Alex jumps into the combat. However, instead of being the hero, she too ends up a victim. A gun butt cruelly connects with her scalp and she goes down for the count. Horrified by what I have just seen, I stumble off the crate and run back to the car, praying that the twins and best-friends are okay. I speed home as fast as I can, probably breaking about a hundred traffic laws in the process. As soon as I'm home, I run down to my dad's lab and tell him everything that I just saw. His face drains of color and his eyes turn slightly green before he runs out of the lab to make a call. I'm left alone thinking of horrors, only I can see and praying that Coul will be okay.
Pipers POV:
When I wake up again I'm relieved at first to be able to move my hands again. Maybe it was all just a horrible dream and I'm actually safe at home asleep on my couch! Honestly though I'm terrified to open my eyes for fear of the horrors I might find. With one last deep breath I slowly open my eyes only to be thrown back into a complete state of utter terror.
I'm in a small cage with thick metal bars, it's too small for me to stand up in it though but perfect height for kneeling. Looking over next to me I see a few other identical cages, all of which are empty save one which contains Coul, who is sitting down and leaning on the side of the cage.
Inhaling sharply I start to sit up and thats when it hits me. The largest, most intense migraine I could have ever imagined. It felt as if someone had cracked my skull open and was using my brain like clay. I instinctively clutch my head, curl up into a tight ball, and squeeze my eyes shut while focusing on my breathing. I can feel my body shaking involuntarily.
My heart beat seemed to echo throughout my whole body it was so loud. Hearing footsteps I gingerly open my eyes and loosen my tight muscles just enough so that I can see a pair of plain white shoes coming towards me. Slightly angling my head I see his face sends a shockwave through my head of pure, raw pain. He's wearing big lab glasses, a surgical hairnet, face mask ,and scrubs.
He's holding a syringe filled with a strange color reddish bluish liquid and walking towards my cage. I was frozen with fear when he reached my cage, fear of both him and the pain that was surging through my body. I closed my eyes knowing that there was nothing else I could do and clenched my teeth preparing for the worst. I could feel the needle slip into my arm, but I still didn't move.
The man left as quickly as he came, and now all I had to do was wait to see what the shot would do to me. To my surprise my head immediately started to feel better. The pressure was lifting and I could feel my muscles relax and I could breathe again.
Sitting up I looked over at Coul to see her staring at me curiously. Our cages were only about four inches apart and there were three other cages surrounding us. Chuckling uneasily I straightened up slightly embarrassed by my episode hoping that she didn't see it all.
"How are you holding up Coul?" I ask quietly.
Looking me in the eye she says, "I'm fine, but we have to find a way to get out of here."
Sighing I look down and grumble sarcastically, "Well that's one way to get straight to the point." "This is serious, Piper! You need to be serious and help me think of a way to get out of here!" She snaps back.
I look back up at her in surprise. She never really snaps at me, she's usually sweet tempered and patient, well with me anyways. She's right though, this is all my fault I need to get us out of this. Apologizing under my breath I feel my face flush with shame (which is a rare feeling for a Stark) and quickly get lost in my thoughts.
As I look around I realize that we are in a warehouse. There are high ceilings with beams running underneath it and there are large loading docks, but to even attempt an escape we have to get out of these cages first. I punch the side of my cage in frustration and sigh loudly. It just seems so hopeless.
Coul gives me a look of pity which just frustrates me even more. I'm about to say something in my defense when a guard comes out with two metal trays with food. The smell hits me and my mouth waters with the prospect of food. I hadn't realized how hungry I was until it was in sight.
The guard sets down the trays and I look over the contents of the tray. My tray has chicken, walnuts, and big, fat blueberries with a glass cup with water in it. The smell is intoxicating and I start devouring it. I don't stop until every last bit of food is gone.
Looking over into Coul's cage I notice that she did the same. We both sit in silence with our trays still sitting in our laps and just listen to the gentle voices of the guards as they patrol the area. All of a sudden there's a loud commotion and I snap my head around to look at it. There's a boy and he's attacking the guards and I notice what looks like arrows coming from the rafters.
Just as my hopes of being rescued are up my heart drops down to my stomach as the sound of a gun going off echoes through the warehouse and the boy falls limp on the ground. My mouth opens in a silent scream but no sound comes out. A girl with a quiver hops down from the rafters and tries to run to her partner, but she's quickly ambushed and unconscious.
Before we know it guards are swarming the area checking for more spies and the rescuers are taken to a different room. Great this is just fantastic! It's my fault they had to try to come and rescue us and now they're probably dead. I feel guilty, terrible, and helpless and there's nothing that I hate more than feeling this way.
I hug my knees to my chest and stare at my glass cup looking at my distorted reflection in the glass. My anger at myself grows and I feel like I'm about to explode in fury. I don't but to my surprise my cup does. Flinching as the glass comes sailing towards me I close my eyes but don't feel the impact.
Slowly opening my eyes I see the glass shards floating in midair right in front of me. Gasping I watch as they fall straight down to the floor. I look over at Coul who is clutching her tray tightly and holding it up to shield her from the glass. "Uhh did you do that?" She asks me wide eyed and confused. "I think so." I say completely confused.
We both start to relax and Cole sets down her tray and gasps. Looking over I see her staring at her tray motionlessly. The tray has deep marks imprinted in it from where her hands were. The trays are thick metal and for me completely impossible to even dent.
"Uh Coul?" I say. "Ya?" She squeaks back. "I think they did a lot more to us than we thought." I reply. We are quickly cut off by the sound of a door opening and three guards coming out. They're carrying the two rescuers who appear to be unconscious but alive at least.
They throw both of them into cages too. The boy is right in front of me and Coul is on my right with the girl in front of her. Once the guards leave I scoot closer to the boys cage to try and look at his face. They both look to be about me and Coul's age, but before I can get a good look at his face they both grunt slightly and start to wake up. They simultaneously jerk up into a sitting position and are fully alert.
Surprised I push myself back to the other end of my cage and put my arms up defensively. I lock eyes with the boy and realize that I know him. "Nate?" I whisper in shock. A slight smile forms on his lips when I say his name but it disappears as quickly as it came. He looks at the girl who I realize is his twin sister, Alex. I share an uncertain look with Coul.
Why are they here? This makes no sense at all! Before I can say anything Coul voices my thoughts exactly. "We were assigned to rescue you, but it's not safe to talk about it here." Alex replies vaguely. I look across from me at Nate and I find he's already staring at me.
I feel my cheeks flush and my eyes flutter down to the floor. I'm suddenly very aware of how I probably look and feel my blush deepen. My hands drift to my hair and feel the dried blood immediately. I blink in surprise at my newly discovered highlights. I look over at Coul's bruised and bloodied figure and realize that I probably look no better.
Alex and Nate are surveying the situation when there eyes fall on the broken glass and dent tray. "What did you do?" Nate asks me and Coul. "Uh funny story actually! We have no idea! I was staring at the glass and it sort of... well it exploded, and Coul picked up her tray to shield herself and well lets just say she was holding it a little too tight." I laugh out suddenly.
I'm really scared and shaken still and I fall back into humor when I'm stressed out even though it's wildly inappropriate. Nate and Alex look at each other and seem to be having a silent conversation together. I glance over at Coul and can see anger in her eyes when she looks at me which reassures me even more that I messed everything up and this is all my fault. Even Coul is mad at me!
Nate looks at me sympathetically and gives me a small reassuring smile. I appreciate the gesture, but it makes me feel even worse. He's so sweet and kind and nice and cute and perfect... Wow no stop! Not cute! I can't afford to think like that. The last thing I need is some other guy to treat me like my dad does. I've never been able to open myself up enough to let somebody in like that.
While I'm thinking I'm looking down at my hands and pushing down on all of the bruises. It hurts but the pain helps me focus on the task at hand. I might die and I'm worried about relationships right now? I really am an idiot.
We hear lots of yelling and guards suddenly swarm the whole warehouse. We all jerk up fully alert and look around. I hear a familiar whir and smile. It's my dad's Iron Man suit about to blast something, or someone. We hear it fire and there's a hole in the wall.
A strange group of people run into the warehouse. There's a man with a bow and arrows and right next to him is a woman in a sleek leather catsuit and flaming red hair and just looking at her you could tell she could probably kill you twenty different ways without breaking a sweat. Next a man came in in a red, white, and blue suit and he looked like those old pictures of Captain America but it couldn't be right? There's no such things as superheroes and the Captain would've been like one hundred years old and this guy was in top physical shape.
Lastly my dad flew into place in line with them all and they sprang into action. I had no idea what was going on, I mean, come on, my dad runs in with Cap, Robin Hood, and the ginger chick and are here to save us? Who are these people and how does my dad know them?
My dad and Cap run over to our cages and my dad uses a sort of laser to open our cages and Cap starts bending the bars to let us out. As soon as we're all out we get attacked. The guards surround us and our rescuers rush to defend us but are quickly scattered. Cap punches one of them in the face and his gun slides over to me. I quickly pick it up and run behind a crate.
The gun needs more ammo, but it still have a few good shots left in it. All of the other kids are hidden and defending themselves, but a guard runs behind me and tries to grab me. I duck and run trying to find cover from the bullets flying towards me. All but one bullets miss me. One skims my calf and I start bleeding. The wound isn't too bad, but it hurts like hell and was bleeding like crazy.
Cursing lightly under my breath I tear off a small strip of fabric from the bottom of my shirt and tie it quickly around my leg to stop some of the bleeding. Once I've dressed my wound I look around the corner of the crate and nearly get my head blown off. I rip my head back behind the crate and cock my gun. Preparing myself I take a deep breath and prepare to go back and shoot.
I've been shooting before with my dad's best friend Rhody and was a surprisingly good shot, but I've never been under this much pressure. I quickly roll onto my stomach and aim. I pull the trigger and my shot stays true to its target and my bullet digs deep into one of the guards thighs. It hit perfectly and he collapses unable to stand. Rolling back I barely miss the other bullets.
There's a loud commotion and some of the guards start to retreat. I feel a hand of my shoulder and whip around, cocking my gun and aiming before I realize that it's my dad. He's in the iron man suit so I can't see his face and before I can say anything he scoops me up in his arms and flies me out.
My arms wrap around his neck and I'm holding on for dear life. I see the others are being evacuated as well and my dad drops me off in a quintjet and flies back off to help the others. An agent named Hill comes out and leads me inside to some seats and tells me that I'll be informed of the full situation once we land.
Everybody is loaded on and are talking quietly to each other except for me. I remain deathly silent and start absently chewing on my thumb nail. I can feel some people starting to stare but I honestly don't care anymore. Let them stare. I don't even humor them with a glance I keep holding my absent stare and the ground and don't even move.
The flight remains uneventful and before we know it it's over. The doors open and everybody's parents are out there waiting... except for mine. I glance around, but don't see my dad. Jacob Hill comes up behind me and whispers to me, "Your father was needed in the lab and he had to help. He'll come and see you when he can." I can hear the pity in his voice.
It's all too much. Getting kidnapped and beaten along with my friends, knowing it's my fault, and now my own dad still doesn't even have time to see if I'm fine or make sure my gun wound is alright. Nothing, but i suppose I shouldn't have expected anything more from him. He made his point clear. He doesn't love or care for me, I'm just an afterthought.
The tears start streaming down my face and I turn around and walk off to the medical wing. It's rather spacious and has windows lining the walls in long neat rows, but there aren't many people in there. As I walk towards the doctors my anger and hatred starts to grow. I clench my fists and feel like I'm about to scream in rage, but instead It happens again but more intense.
It's like a sonic boom emanating from me. The windows burst out and objects fly out of their places. This time I know for a fact it's me and I embrace the destruction. When the wave stops I feel like I got hit by a truck and a herd of stampeding elephants trampled me. I'm completely exhausted and that was the last of my energy.
My legs start to feel like jelly and the edge of my vision starts to go black. I see everybody staring at me and Nate and his dad both start rushing towards me as I start swaying and grab my head. I fall and his dad reaches me a second before and catches me. Nate's staring into my eyes and that's the last thing I see. The darkness envelopes me and carries me away.