Chapter 31
Suiting up meant everyone going to their respective floors, grabbing their weapons of choice, and piling into one of Tony’s SUVs. Natasha was weaving around traffic, Tony having procured an emergency light from somewhere to sit on top of the car. Steve was vibrating with energy from the front passenger seat, anxious to get where they were going. Natasha assured him it would take around 10 minutes, give or take the traffic. He had almost asked Tony to fly ahead, but decided against it. Steve needed to get there first.
“So what’s the plan when we get there? Just let Cap loose and pick off whatever’s leftover?” Clint asked from his spot next to Tony in the middle row of seats.
“Can’t take out Miller right off the bat. We might need info from him,” Natasha pointed out.
“I think the plan should be not killing people,” Bruce piped up from the back row.
“I don’t know if Cap has any restraint right now,” Tony laughed, gesturing to the white knuckled grip he had on his shield. If it had been made of anything else, it would’ve been bent by now.
“I’m good,” Steve growled, glaring back at Tony. He couldn’t deal with Tony being Tony right now. And he didn’t want to admit the man was right. He wasn’t completely confident that he wouldn’t smash Miller’s face in the second he saw him.
“Sure. Maybe let me do the talking when we get there, okay?” Tony suggested. “It’s easier to get answers out of someone if they aren’t shitting their pants in fear.”
“Fine,” Steve grunted, turning his attention back to the road in front of them. He wasn’t planning on talking much anyways. They rode in silence the rest of the way, the streets turning from retail to warehouses. There was still traffic on the roads, but much less pedestrians. Natasha cut the siren, so he knew they must be getting close. Steve took a few deep breaths, trying to calm himself down. Going into a mission too hyped up was never a good idea. It made you sloppy. Natasha turned into a back lot, stopping in front of a building. A building with Agent Miller standing in front of it.
Steve jumped out of the car, stomping up to the man. He didn’t look scared to see them. He looked relieved even. The rest of the team caught up to him quickly, with Tony stepping up to stand by his side.
“Wow, you guys got here quick,” Miller said with a smile. “I wasn’t expecting Shield to send the Avengers for this when we called it in.” Steve squinted at the man, not understanding what he was saying.
“Uhh, what are you talking about?” Tony asked, putting a calming hand on his shoulder. Tony was never one for casual touches when it came to him, so Steve listened to the unsaid direction.
“Shield didn’t tell you?” Miller asked, confused.
“You know how they are. They just send us out without explaining everything. Good thing we have you here for that this time,” Tony said casually. Tony sounded downright friendly even, but if you knew him you’d be able to tell it was fake.
“Well, I didn’t make the call, so I don’t know what all was said, but as we were leaving the surveillance detail, we saw the woman from the elevator leave your tower. We were headed in the same direction and due to traffic we kept the same pace for a bit, when out of nowhere, these guys accosted her and took off with her. We followed along until they brought her here. My colleagues were in pursuit of the culprits while I stayed behind to look for the woman,” Miller recounted.
“Where is she?” Tony asked, squeezing Steve’s forearm to keep him from moving forward.
“She’s inside. They must’ve hit her hard because she hasn’t woken up since I got here. I was waiting out here for backup and paramedics,” Miller said. Steve felt all the blood drain from his face and his breath caught in his throat. Celia couldn’t stay unconscious, not anymore. If she wasn’t waking up, it would mean something much worse.
“Take us to her,” Steve demanded, shrugging off Tony’s hand. Miller nodded, leading them through the empty building. There were rows of hallways with closed doors along each side. They walked for about 30 seconds before they finally came to an open door.
Steve’s knees almost buckled at the sight of Celia. She was sitting in a chair, slumped forward with her hair covering her face. He staggered forward and fell to his knees in front of her, leaving the rest of the team to watch his back and deal with Miller for now.
This was not how this ended. Celia had fought too hard to die in this shitty room at the hands of someone like Agent Miller. She was only in this situation due to him and he would never get rid of the guilt of her death. It would sit inside him, eating him up. Right next to the guilt over Bucky. He raised a shaky hand to her throat, searching for the pulse he was so desperate to find.
“Celia?” he murmured quietly, cupping her cheek with his hand as his fingers probed. Her eyes shot open at the sound of his voice, and he started a bit, returning her gaze. Her very much alive gaze. He barked out a laugh, feeling lightheaded with relief.
“Hey Steve.”
*
Celia heard Agent Axe leave a few minutes earlier, but she didn’t lift her head. She didn’t want this to be a test to see if she would stick to her word. The thought of being submissive like this was making her nauseous, but that also could’ve been from the pain in her wrists. That pain was winning out over the jaw at this point, with her circulation being cut off, causing her dislocated thumb to tingle and burn. If the cuffs had been this tight in the first place, she never would’ve been able to slip them.
She was nervous about who from Shield was going to show up. She didn’t know how many people knew about who she was. Fury mentioned the techs who tested her blood and looked into her background, but she didn’t think those were the people that would be sent out in the field for something like this. Then there were the agents who were sent on the wild goose chase to her fake apartment. They might not be too happy with her after her fake paperwork wasted their time. She wished the Avengers would come, but she didn’t know if they would be contacted for something like this.
When she heard more than one set of approaching footsteps, she forced all the muscles in her body to relax. It was time to act her ass off until she was somewhere safe and away from Agent Axe. Any sounds of pain would give her away right off the bat. Celia felt the air displace in front of her and she focused on keeping her breaths steady. When gentle hands touched her face, she kept still, even though it hurt her jaw. But when she heard his voice, the feeling of sheer relief forced her eyes open.
“Hey Steve,” she sighed, staring into his eyes. She felt like bursting into tears at the sight of him, but held it together. This was not the time for an emotional breakdown. Steve sucked in a sharp gasp, huffing out a breathy chuckle.
“She’s alive!” Steve called out, his eyes looking a little brighter than Celia usually remembered them being.
“Of course she’s alive,” Agent Axe scoffed from the doorway. “I told you she was just unconscious.” Steve’s face instantly changed to one of pure rage at the sound of his voice.
“Wait,” Celia whispered, stopping him from leaving her to take out his anger on the other man. “Play along.” Steve stared at her strangely for a moment before nodding, backing her choice for the time being. She needed the agent to leave no doubt of his guilt.
“I need keys for these cuffs,” Steve said, looking back toward the door. She could see the rest of the team hovering outside, giving them space instead of crowding the small room.
“Got it,” Clint replied, pushing his way past everyone to step into the room. He moved behind her, stooping down to unlock her wrists. She hissed when he touched her left hand, and he pulled away, not wanting to hurt her.
“It’s okay,” she assured, wanting out of these cuffs now. He went back to it, starting on her right hand this time. The lock sprang open and she carefully pulled her hands to her lap, cradling the hurt appendage. Steve’s hands hovered over hers, wanting to help, but not cause her more pain.
“Want me to reduce it?” Clint asked, gently unlocking the left wrist and tossing away the cuffs. Celia nodded, grabbing Steve’s hand for support. Clint examined her thumb briefly, prodding at the swollen digit. Agent Axe’s rough treatment of it earlier causing more damage. Clint snapped the finger back suddenly, without warning.
“Son of a bitch!” Celia shouted, breathing through the pain. Popping it in hurt worse than popping it out. Steve rubbed her arm as she rode the waves, picturing smashing Agent Axe’s face into dust. He moved her hair behind her ear, inspecting her facial injury.
“I’m gonna kill him,” Steve growled, vibrating with anger. Celia grabbed his arm, pulling him close.
“Not yet,” Celia murmured, pulling herself up from the chair. Steve supported her on one side, while Clint stood by just in case. “Can we get out of this room?”
“Not quite yet,” Fury said, breezing up to the group. Celia froze, not expecting him to show up to this too. They were all bunched up in the small space; Celia, Steve, and Clint in the room, Agent Axe and Fury in the doorway, and the rest of the team in the hall. She was so desperate for some fresh air, but that would have to wait. Hopefully this next part wouldn’t take too long.
“Sir, I wasn’t expecting all this for one little call. I was just doing my job of course,” Agent Axe said, pretending to be sheepish.
“Yes, I heard about your colleague’s call. Pretty lucky you were in the right place at the right time,” Fury said blandly. He raked his eye over her. “You okay?”
“She was unconscious until the team came,” Agent Axe answered for her, giving her a patronizing smile. “I’m just glad I came to the rescue before she was hurt any further.” Celia just smiled back, letting the agent tell the lies that would seal his fate.
“Is this true?” Fury asked her. Agent Axe was staring at her pointedly, trying to emphasize his threat from earlier with his eyes. Celia sighed, finally being in a position where she was safe enough to let the truth out.
“No, it’s not.”
*
If she could’ve taken a picture of that stupid agent’s face right now, she would’ve. It was such a delightful mix of bewilderment, rage, and fear. He couldn’t have really expected her to lie for him, after what he’d done. His story was so full of holes that even the worst agent would be able to pick it apart. But even still, Celia let him say enough to dig himself so deep that he wouldn’t be able to climb out.
“She’s just confused,” the agent laughed, shaking his head in denial. “They hit her pretty hard right off the bat. She must’ve thought it was me, but it wasn’t.”
“Nah, you didn’t hit me that hard. I’ve seen harder hits,” Celia commented idly, nodding toward Steve. “It was all part of the plan though.” She felt bolstered by having the team there by her side. Pain didn’t hurt as much when you had Captain America there to protect you. And sticking it to the agent was sweeter than morphine.
“I never hit you!” the agent gasped, shock coloring his words. “Why would I hit you after I found you tied up?” He glanced around, looking for support. He must not have liked what he saw because he stared back at her, his lips twitching as if he was fighting back a snarl.
“No, you hit me after I got free and took your cell phone. Thanks for that, it helped me hide it long enough to get you to leave so I could send a text,” Celia said, smirking at the man. “I guess they got it.”
“I helped decode it!” Tony piped up from the hallway.
“What text? I don’t even have a cell phone on me,” he said, spreading his arms away from his body.
“Maybe not anymore, but I got a text and it led us straight to you,” Steve growled, braced for a fight.
“You came because I called this in,” the agent argued.
“We didn’t hear about your call until you told us, Sparky,” Tony snorted. “Or should I call you Axe Man?”
“I’ve been referring to him as Agent Axe in my head,” Celia commented with a grin. “I know you were confused by the ‘ax’ text, but that was all I had time to send. I guess it was enough after all.” The agent looked to the floor, trying to cook up any last ditch plea of innocence. Celia hoped he gave up soon. This grandstanding act was costing her right now. Every word she spoke was sending a lightning bolt of pain shooting up the side of her face.
“She’s lying. You guys have no proof I touched her, because I didn’t. This is the closest we’ve been to each other since I found her cuffed to that chair!” he ended in a shout, pushing his chest out to look confident and strong.
“Check his left pants pocket,” Celia said quietly, a sly smile spreading across her face. Damn the pain, this was the part she had been waiting for since he came up with his faulty lie. Her ace in the hole. The agent’s hand moved down toward his pants before Fury stopped him, searching the pocket himself. Sitting between his fingers was a small glass marble. Clint snorted from beside her, covering his mouth with his hand to keep the rest of his laughs in.
“So what, it’s a marble,” Agent Axe shrugged off, even though he was looking at it in utter confusion.
“It’s my marble.”
“You can’t prove that,” he brushed off, crossing his arms over his chest.
“I can if it has my DNA on it,” Celia smirked, raising an eyebrow at the agent. “I figured I might not make it out of this room alive, so I slipped that into your pocket when I was grabbing your phone. Just to get a little evidence on you without you noticing. And for reasons we don’t need to get into, it has my saliva on it. Shield already has my DNA on file to compare it to.”
Celia could hear the sound of Agent Axe grinding his teeth from where she stood, his fists clenching and unclenching at his sides. He went from glaring at her, to glancing around at everyone, to glaring at her again. No one there was going to support him, not even Fury.
“What do you have to say for yourself?” Fury asked, pocketing the marble himself. She was really gonna miss that little ball.
“I should’ve told you from the beginning, but she was meeting with someone and telling them secret information,” he stammered, licking his lips nervously. “I brought her here to find out what she said.”
“So what was that first story?” Fury demanded, looking unimpressed.
“She begged me not to say anything! That she was sorry and wouldn’t do it again!” Agent Axe pleaded.
“I’ll give you one last shot to tell the truth, or I’ll take you somewhere for a little interrogation of my own,” Fury said calmly, resting his hand on the butt of his gun. Agent Axe gulped, before sagging in resignation.
“I was just trying to get information out of her. She was just supposed to answer some questions and then I’d come to you with it, proving she couldn’t be trusted. No one had to get hurt.”
“Why?” Celia asked, genuinely confused.
“You were supposed to come talk to Shield right out of that elevator, but you didn’t. And then the agents who were looking into you told me you were suspicious. So when I saw you leave the tower alone, I took the opportunity,” he sneered, looking back at Fury. “I was doing it for you! For the good of the organization!”
“Permission to hurt him, sir?” Steve ground out from next to her. Celia grasped him around the wrist, holding him back. Steve could’ve pushed her off without breaking a sweat, but he stayed where he was.
“You all get out of here. I’ll deal with Miller,” Fury directed, glaring down at the man. The agent was cowering a bit, just how screwed he was sinking in. Steve surged forward, grabbing the agent by the neck and slamming him into the wall of the hallway. At everyone’s look of surprise he shrugged, gesturing vaguely toward the room.
“Just clearing the way a bit,” Steve said casually, squeezing the agent’s throat until his face turned red. “Clint, could you help Celia out of here? I’ll catch up.” Clint snorted, guiding her out of the room with a light hand on her back. Celia looked back at Steve before they turned the corner out of sight, seeing him snarl something into the man’s ear.
“Should we leave him back there?” Celia asked the team as they walked out, jolting at the sound of a high pitched scream. She turned to go back but Clint directed her forward with an arm around her shoulders.
“He’ll be out here soon,” Clint brushed off with a grin. They stepped through the last door, the bright sunlight making Celia squint. She was half surprised it was still daytime, the ordeal feeling like it had gone on forever. She stood there for a few seconds, leaning her face toward the sun and breathing in the fresh air. Celia felt herself aching for the carefree feeling from last night, standing on the roof with Steve and just letting everything else go. But now she had another shitty healing session looming over her, the worst one since the first shot that started it all.
“Let’s get in the car. I want us to be ready to go by the time Cap finishes his therapy session in there,” Tony said, trotting toward an SUV. “I call shotgun!” The rest of them followed, Clint and Natasha arguing over who would drive this time. Bruce stuck beside her, watching her with a close eye.
“I’m not gonna keel over,” she said lightly, feeling pretty steady on her feet now that they were outside of the building. Bruce chuckled, shrugging a little.
“That may be true, but Cap would kill us if anything else happened to you,” Bruce replied, helping her into the middle row of the car. He gently touched her swollen jaw, making a soft noise of disgust. “You might have a fracture here. Let’s get some ice on it when we get back to the tower, until you’re ready to take care of it.”
“Sounds like a plan,” Celia agreed, resting against the seat as Bruce climbed into the back to sit with Clint. Tony and Natasha were arguing in the front about what to put on the radio and Clint was muttering about always being stuck in the back. It felt comfortable. More comfortable than any of the other times she had been around the team, especially without Steve around. It warmed her up a bit that the whole team came to rescue her, even though they didn’t need to. Maybe staying in the tower wouldn’t be so bad after all?
“Are you okay?” Steve’s voice called out from in front of her, startling her eyes back open. She hadn’t heard him come up while she was resting.
“I’m good,” she assured him, letting him fuss over her a bit to see for himself. He gave her a quick once over, his eyes going dark every time they passed over one of her injuries. Once he was finished checking her over, Steve swept her up into a tight hug, careful of the tender areas.
“Don’t ever do that again,” he whispered in her ear, holding her against him. She nodded, the relief of feeling safe stealing her words.
“Hug her from inside the car, Cap!” Tony yelled, breaking up the moment. Steve groaned, rolling his eyes. Celia slid over after they broke apart, making room for Steve to climb in. He buckled her seatbelt for her, making her laugh. She had the feeling Steve was going to treat her like she was made of glass for a while. Celia would let him have that comfort for a little while. Natasha smoothly pulled the car out onto the street, driving back toward the tower. Celia leaned against Steve like they had sat in the cab, letting Steve watch over her.
“Okay, I can’t take it anymore!” Clint called out suddenly from the backseat. Celia eyed him warily, waiting to hear the cause of his outburst. “Why was your saliva on that marble?”