"Take out the guards and free the prisoners, and we lead them into an attacking force to take those Hydra goons out in surprise, like inside out.", Bucky grinned, getting what Steve's thinking.
Steve replied, "Alright, Mole, lead us your way.", looking at Mole, and he replied, "Yes, Captain.", before turning around back into his tunnel, and the boys followed him in.
"I still don't know how he's able to do this...", Bucky admitted as Steve chuckled, "I've learned to basically just ignore it, he's able to dig like an actual mole, just leave it at that and be grateful that he can.".
Carefully and silently, they followed Mole's lead, deep into the fortress, underneath the fortress, and with a signal to Steve and Bucky to not move, Mole resurfaced slowly and quietly, glancing at the stunned faces in one of the nearby cages, and held a finger to keep quiet, watching the guards, and then signaled the boys to surface and do their thing in taking out the guards.
The prisoners became excited when they recognized Captain America from the stories and rumors yet kept quiet while Steve and Bucky signaled to each other, focused to take out the guards on their separate circle bouts in their style, with the guards not even knowing what came before it was too late.
Taking the keys from the dead guards, they went to the cages which was a lot, with Steve looking around before asking, "I'm looking for someone. Dr. Sweet?".
Some of the prisoners looked at one another as Steve took another breath. "Dark skinned man, fairly tall, well built?", he asked as one man stepped forward, "They took him away some time ago; clearly they wanted something from him...".
Steve narrowed his eyes, "Where is he?", and another one of the prisoners replied, "There's an isolation ward north of here in the factory.", with a hand direction.
"Right. Bucky, you lead them out to surprise attack from the inside out, and Mole, mess up the generators and all. We are making this into a nasty one like back in France. I'll be quick with Sweet.", Steve replied before sprinting off to take care of guards and Hydra goons on his way.
Bucky nodded, "You better, bro. I ain't having Carter on my ass! Alright, men, who wants to take a piece of justice and freedom?", and the prisoners grinned, taking the dead guards' weapons while creating a way out, with Mole tunneling under to find the generators of the fortress, glad that he kept some of Jacques's personalized grenades from Jacques's apartment in his 'will'.
Steve replied, muttering, "If I know Bucky, he's going to make it a really good surprise attack.", as he focused on finding Sweet, "Please be alright...You would never hurt our friends if you can help it.".
Meanwhile, Joshua Sweet, doctor, soldier, and protector, is extremely confusing his tormentors as he talked to himself in a foreign language that nobody would ever know, all thanks to his strategically invisible crystal that would never been seen by his enemies, "Nola, it hurts...".
He has been tormented for three days and counting, not that he knew, but he has been occasionally left alone here and there, yet it left him in a defensive way yet seeking sanctuary within his mind, back to Atlantis, and his crystal led him to seek Nola after he realized the situation, and for some reason, the greatest connection in Atlantis he held to his heart and memories was her.
In Atlantis, Nola cradled Sweet's head as he's somehow solid yet transparent, "I'm right here, Joshua...Don't give in to them...", as she could never forget the fateful day when she found him in her apartment in the palace only three days ago.
It was honestly unexpected for her; one minute she was just doing her normal rounds around the kingdom, being the leading healer and such, heading back to her apartment to rest after the long day, before she walked in and saw Sweet on his knees right in the middle of her room.
Of course, it was clearly obvious from the start that he wasn't actually there as opposed to say, like when Jacques had returned. She honestly didn't know what was happening or how it was; other than the simple excuse of it being related to the Heart.
Nola gasped, "Dr. Sweet!", getting down to his level, "What happened?", and Sweet groaned lightly, looking up at her with pained eyes, "Got captured by enemies, the same enemy from the volcano...Got brought to interrogation room...Starting to tormenting me...Can't...can't give in...I don't know how I got here...But it hurts, Nola...I don't want to betray Atlantis...".
Nola gasped in horror and shock, terrified for the man she has a tiny crush on, but ignoring it right now, as she is intending to help him somehow, "No! Dr. Sweet, focus on me, don't give in to them!", trying to think before deciding to keep him focused on her, "Hey, hey, you'd be glad to know that Jacques got here. Steve or someone else of our allies must have told you of everything in his adventure to fake his death, right?", hoping that conversation would distract him from the pain happening to him in real life.
Sweet gave a small nod. "Yeah; word through Mole...", he groaned. "Are they torturing you as we speak?", Nola asked as he shook his head.
"No, they're taking a bit of a break, letting me be alone with my fear before they come back for the next round...", Sweet winced in pain as they started off strong with the torture, rather than a slow build up.
Nola replied, "Well, let's see here for starters, we got Kida and Milo as queen and king after they got married, and oh, their son is adorable!", and Sweet chuckled, "Good for Milo. And oh, a son...Aww, that's amazing...What do they call him?".
"Tokivath Andrew Thatch, Toki for short. He is quite the combo of his parents, and he's already learning to turn into his back or belly, through he's not there yet for sitting or crawling.", Nola smiled warmly.
Sweet smiled, "Toki, that sounds like a fine Atlantean name, and an American name for his middle name...", before he winced in pain, and Nola replied, "Can you stand up?", looking at him.
"I think so...", Sweet groaned as Nola tried to help him, and she guided him to sit on a couch, and he looked at Nola, "Thanks, Nola...What else happened?".
Nola said with a fond smile, "Abraham gave birth successfully to Klaus and Rachel, and they are remarkably smart yet still babies of a way, similar to Toki in progress of growth, through Klaus is more stubborn to be first before Rachel, while Rachel is a daddy's girl, to both of Abraham and Thaddeus...You should have seen Thaddeus...He never thought he'd have a daughter even though he had been used to having boys like Augustus and Milo..", with a laugh.
Sweet gave a small chuckle, though there was pain in the tone. "That's nice...", he told her. "Pity I couldn't see it all for myself...". Nola thought about it for a moment.
"Maybe... maybe I could get the others? Help surround you with more comfort, perhaps? Help you keep fighting... you can't break, Sweet... you know what they're after...", Nola replied. "I know...", Sweet groaned. "I'll die before they learn anything...".
Nola looked at him, "Don't you ever dare to do that, not to your friends up there, or us down here! By the gods, it nearly happened to Jacques and Sia when they didn't know of Jen!".
Sweet gave a confused look, "Jen?", and Nola replied, "You must have felt something somewhat alarming months back after Jacques was on his way, on Christmas Day/Eve your time zone, yes?".
"Now that you mention it, yes, I did, though I was asleep at the time as it was curfew time in Italy, and I faintly knew that something happened, but I didn't know what.", Sweet commented as he kept focusing on Nola.
Nola sighed, "All of us didn't know at the time, but Sia was pregnant again, and when she and her hunting group was hunting the huge worm creature, she was hit by the tail. It took me and all my trusted close healers to get her into a healing coma, along with some others including Jacques previously on the way to the healing center, and Jendayi Auriella Nedakh was nearly lost, but in time we saved them both, and they came out of the coma healthy and safe and alive...Sia nearly blamed herself for endangering her daughter even if she didn't know honestly that she was carrying, though she was slim, not showing at the time.".
"God... I can't imagine the feeling...", Sweet said as Nola nodded. "It was terrifying for all, especially them, but... at least in the end, everything was alright; no issues and now Jendayi is a happy bouncing baby girl...", Nola sighed with a slight smile on her face.
Sweet smiled, "That's good to hear...After all, you've been around for centuries, and they trust you...How's Kory and Vinny handling being big brothers?".
"Kory's obsessed in teaching Jen how to crawl, but Jen is still too young, so he teaches her how to cuddle and move around somewhat. And Vinny, he's absolutely a lifesaver to watch over them while Sia and Jacques have dates and such.", Nola smiled.
Sweet chuckled, "Always knew that Vinny's a good boy through and through. And I figure they got married or is planning it?", and Nola giggled, "They got married, and Jendayi got born only two days later, as a wedding gift/birthday wish from Vinny which was really sweet of him as he didn't want to see his mother be depressed and scared much more longer through the pregnancy, considering that he got officially adopted/reborn into the family as a son and brother on his birthday/his parents' wedding.".
"Oh, wow, talk about a crazy time...Everything settled down after that, huh?", Sweet replied, and Nola smiled, "Pretty much, and Atlantis is becoming the city it used to be in its glory days slowly day by day by rebuilding, cleaning up, and fixing everything...You want to see the view?".
Sweet smiled, "That'd be fantastic.", as he winced in pain, and Nola helped him to her favorite nook window, and he looked out at the city, "It's even more beautiful than before...", amazement on his face.
"And it's all thanks to everyone in this city, not just the family...Medicine, arts, literature, culture, everything, it's being uncovered, and we've been learning every day.", Nola smiled as the sun was dipping into sunset over Atlantis.
Sweet looked at her, "You and the other healers must be thrilled.", and Nola nodded, "Yes, we are more than overjoyed to have the past helping us into the future. Why, somehow, with the Heart of Atlantis back in the sky, there are more courtships, more pregnancies, and more space to build a future for them all, through it is steady going since the term length of the pregnancies for women and men is still the same for most everybody, as it turns out the royal family is slightly more special if necessary for emergencies like with Jendayi and such.".
"At least things seem to be alright where you are...", Sweet said as Nola placed her hand on his shoulder, "And they will be for you too, Sweet... please... just hang in there; the others will come for you... I don't know how... but somehow, they will...".
Sweet exhaled, "I have a feeling too, bu-!", and Nola shouted, "Sweet!", and he groaned, "They're coming back for the second round...Distract me...Something...".
Nola blinked, thinking furiously for a moment before replying, "Hey, I'll tell you the stories from my rounds.", and Sweet glanced at her, "You don't have confidentiality rules about telling stories of patients between healers?".
"No, and besides, if we did, it's more stressful keeping the bad stuff close when we wanted a good cry or a good rant with our families or friends or mates as they could see things they don't, like perhaps suggesting ideas we couldn't have thought earlier or something.", Nola said.
Sweet blinked, "I actually haven't really thought about it that way...", surprised to hear that yet it makes even more sense and less strict than on the surface, and replied, "Okay, go ahead...".
Nola gave a radiant smile that somehow lessened Sweet's pain slightly, and started to distract Sweet with her stories from her centuries of experience, and so, that night was full of conversation, questions, emotions as Sweet listened and talked through the pain of the torment his interrogators are putting on him, and even when he was left alone in the late hours of the night for longer than several minutes, he was still here, keeping safe.
The next day, with Nola telling one of the guards near her apartment to bring the family, it was discovered that without Nola touching him, Sweet was invisible, unheard, and all to the family, and so, with Nola holding into his hand, shoulder, or thigh, he was able to hear many other stories, and managed to interact with the babies and Vinny just slightly, like making silly faces, though he wasn't able to touch them or hold them.
Of course, the tormenting kept going even harder, and not wanting to scare the babies, Sweet was hesitant yet firm to tell the family to leave, and so, with occasional visits from one of the adults or two from the family, Sweet endured the tormenting a bit better, through for some reason, with Nola alone with him, it was more easier to stay sane, through it got even harder to walk.
"Aww, shit...", Sweet groaned, "They're tying me in an uncomfortable position...", as the night approached again, and Nola growled, "If I was there, I'd give them what for! You don't deserve this, Sweet!".
Sweet shook his head, "No, even with an exclusive learning of fighting techniques, they will overwhelm you...I cannot have you in that situation. No, it's better I take this...".
"It's not fair!", Nola sobbed, and Sweet replied, "War's not fair...I hate it, I know, but I'm stronger, and even if I do have a compassionate heart, my father told me that if I stay strong, my spirit couldn't be broken...".
"But you are fighting, and they are trying to break you! You should be living, to be free, to have a family and everything!", Nola retorted, and Sweet bitterly chuckled, "You could think so, but most people aren't truly attracted to me, per my heritage, my looks, and skin color...Hell, being half Black and half Native American, and having no hair thanks to my age and such, and being strong and all...Most people assume that I'm aggressive instead of being a gentle giant.".
Nola ranted, "That's absolutely ridiculous! You are a man of healing, a compassionate heart, a strong soul, and you are a hero! How could people be blind to see that you can be loving and gentle and wonderful and so perfectly attractive like I do?!", before freezing at what she just admitted, and blushed, looking away.
Sweet chuckled hearing that before he first answered her question. "Centuries of racism and the constant validation of those ideas passed from generation to generation. Hate isn't genetic, it's taught...", he sighed before he smiled. "You... you really mean what you just said there?", he asked as she continued to blush redder.
Nola replied, "I was attracted to you for your compassion to help people...You tried your best to heal King Kashekim, but bless his soul, he was more than ready to go home to his wife, you helped diagnose the heartbeats of Klaus and Rachel, making Abraham happy to hear that they are healthy and strong, and you helped me deliver Kory, giving a gift to Jacques before he had to leave, helping occupy Sia while he was gone...I was attracted to you for your strong body to fight for us in that volcano, and even if I haven't personally known what you did there, you went anyway. And now, I'm even more attracted to you for your mind when you talked with me since yesterday and all, fighting to keep your mind safe from them, and making me interested in whatever you said to my stories and such...".
Sweet was stunned, hearing her say all that, and replied, "You...", remembering the little flirtations she did around him back then in that fateful week, and replied, "But...you could've a mate? I mean, you have been around for centuries!", as Nola looked to be in her 30s like him.
Nola looked down, a glimmer of heartbreaking memories in her eyes as she spoke, "You'd think so, but I had to distract myself with being a healer after...after the flood...I had a mentor who was teaching me while pregnant and married with another man who was a deep-sea hunter, Galerus aka Gale and Kazimir aka Kazi...I was only 16 physically, and I haven't a vision of my supposed mate/s yet, and this was only a week before the flood...Gale was my first patient I helped deliver on my own while he was supported by his husband, yet they are open to be polyamorous, and I was nervous yet determined...The moment I delivered their baby girl that they named Rirra, I was given a vision, a vision of him and his husband as my chosen mates, with Rirra as my adopted daughter...We were all shocked, of course, yet soon overjoyed...Of course, being 16, I was able to be married and all, but I was hesitant, so they suggested a test drive of being a family with them for the week...".