Chapter 30
“Whose number was that? What did she send?” Agent Axe yelled to the other man, the gun never wavering from its position in front of Celia’s face.
“I don’t know this number. And she texted the word ax,” the man said, shrugging his shoulders.
“Like the tool?” Agent Axe asked, confused.
“Yeah, you want me to call it?” the man questioned, pushing a few buttons on the phone.
“No, stupid. Get rid of the phone and come back. We need a new plan,” Agent Axe directed, turning his attention back to her. The other man slid out of the room, leaving them alone. She didn’t know where the third man was, but that wasn’t the most pressing issue right now. The angry agent pointing a gun at her was.
Celia was scared that Steve wouldn’t know what the text meant, but she was relieved that the agent didn’t seem to understand. She had planned on sending more and then deleting the message from the log, but she didn’t have the chance. Celia hoped it was enough. And she hoped they would be able to trace the number before the phone was destroyed.
“Who were you trying to reach?” Agent Axe asked, leaning menacingly over her. She clamped her mouth shut, the pain in her jaw fighting for dominance over the pain in her hand. The whole side of her face was throbbing and she swore she could feel a couple of teeth loose. Celia hoped her healing ability covered dental trauma.
“I think you know who I am, which means you know who I work for. What do you think my bosses are going to say when I tell them I caught you in a clandestine meeting, spilling secrets about Stark Tower and the Avengers? I had no choice but to bring you back here, to find out what you told people. And when you tried to escape and attack me, I had no choice but to subdue you,” Agent Axe said calmly, running the back of his hand against her swelling cheek. She cringed away from his touch but he grabbed her face, forcing her to look at him. He dug his fingers into the tender area of her jaw, smirking at the small noise of pain she couldn’t stop from escaping.
“Fuck you!” Celia spat out. “They won’t believe you.”
“They won’t? I’m a highly decorated and respected agent. Who are you?” he laughed, giving her cheek a patronizing pat after letting his grip on her face go. He did have a point there. Would Shield take her word over the word of one of their own? Fury wasn’t her biggest fan and probably wouldn’t take much convincing to believe she was doing something shady. But Steve would never.
“It doesn’t have to be that way though. Say me and my guys saw you get picked up on the street, followed you back here and saved the day? Then we’re the heroes, you’re the victim, and we all leave this thing happy,” he offered, rocking back on his heels. Celia blew out a shaky breath, thinking over the second scenario. It was a lot better than his first suggestion, but she couldn’t trust that he would stick to his word.
“Why should I believe you?” Celia mumbled, shutting her eyes so she wouldn’t have to see his smug face. She could really use a rescue right about now. He suddenly grabbed her left hand and squeezed and she couldn’t hold back the shout of surprise and pain.
“You know, I could always just kill you and dump your body,” he hissed in her ear, pressing his gun against her temple.
“Okay, okay!” Celia yelled, tears of pain rolling down her face. He let her go and she clutched her hand to her chest, shuddering breaths racking her body. Celia really wanted to hurt this guy.
“Atta girl,” he laughed, standing up and walking over to the door. He called out for the other men to come back, his gun still lazily pointed in her direction. She sat there the few minutes it took the other men to show up, steadying her breathing. Celia would play along with the plan until she was free, then go back to the tower to tell the team the truth. She just needed to make these men believe she was agreeable until she got the chance. Celia heard the men run up, staying just outside the room.
“Call Shield and tell them we saw her get snatched. We followed them here and you two took off after them while I stayed behind and found her,” Agent Axe directed.
“And they just happened to bring her to a Shield site?” one of the men asked.
“So I guess we found a mole in Shield too. Even better for us. Just go call this in then get out of here. I’ll contact you later when all this is situated,” Agent Axe snapped, stomping back into the room. Celia glared up at him, wondering what the point of all this was. And why those other men seemed to be willing to go along with what he wanted.
“And what should we do with you?” he asked, stalking back to stand in front of her. “Can I trust that you’ll stick with the story?” Celia wanted to tell him to go to hell, but that wouldn’t help her right now. Letting her anger out wouldn’t help her, but using her brain and being strategic would.
“Put me back in the chair and I’ll pretend to be unconscious. I never saw you and can’t refute your claims if I wasn’t awake for any of this,” Celia suggested nonchalantly, hoping he wouldn’t insist on knocking her out for real to sell the story.
“And you think you can pull that off? Faking unconsciousness?” he asked, looking skeptical.
“I fooled you,” she said quietly, only gloating a bit. Agent Axe snarled a little, reaching down and grabbing her by the left wrist. She yelped and let him pull her up without fighting, wanting him to feel like he was fully in control. He pushed her down into the chair, pulling her arms roughly behind her through the back. He snapped the left cuff back over her wrist, tighter this time, so it was digging into her skin. He tightened the other side for good measure.
“Remember our deal,” he whispered in her ear, flicking her jaw a little before moving back toward the door. Celia grit her teeth, lowering her head into a natural position. It was show time.